Mass Effect: The Rise of the Anahaus
by TCox2010
Summary: "They often told me that being a hero meant that you had to make sacrifices. What they did not mention, was that sometimes the sacrifices hit close to home." Commander Christian Shepard...more details and disclaimer inside. Ch 19 up!
1. Reflections

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own anything in any of these chapters, BioWare does. What I have done in this is meshed a couple of games together. So here is my Shepard…  
Christian Shepard Spacer/Sole Survivor/Soldier. ME1 Stats - Kaiden died on Virmire, Wrex survived, romanced Ashley, saved the council. ME2 Stats - Saved Chakwas and the rest of the crew, a couple of team members died, and romanced Miranda.  
Neither of the two above are of the same character but I thought they fit in better than any other play through I had. So I have basically made it to where no one died on the Suicide Mission in ME2. But for it to coincide with what will be my ME3, they will die in this story. I hope you enjoy and I hope that this all makes sense. Ultimately, I think it will all turn out very well. Please read and review

Some of the information on this is from the games and the Mass Effect Wikipedia site.

The Anahaus are my own created species and so are the subsequent characters. Dr. Corson is also my own.

**Reflections**

The _Normandy SR-2_ floated effortlessly throughout space, the only object distorting a crystal lit backdrop of stars and distant planets. Finally, a sense of peace was surrounding the _Normandy_ and her crew. It had been a hellacious turn of events that began over two years ago with the Geth attack on Eden Prime and the rogue Spectre Saren leading an assault on the Citadel. Two years since Commander Shepard and his crew had been to Ilos and returned to stop Saren and his army of Geth and Krogan. And two years since the fateful day that the original_ Normandy_ was destroyed by an unknown assailant, later on revealed as the Collectors.

The small ship drifted back towards Alliance space and away from the legendary and deadly Omega 4 Relay. Weeks of hunting the Collectors had finally come to a climactic end when Shepard blew the place straight to hell. Everyone on the ship believed it to be a suicide mission, but once again Shepard was able to prove everyone wrong. They all had made it through the Relay, thanks to Joker, and out of the base alive. Even the crew that had been kidnapped by the Collectors was able to make it out in one piece; Dr. Chakwas, Ken, Gabby, even Kelly Chambers were all alive, thanks to Shepard and his heroic crew.

Not everyone was equally thrilled with the Commander's decisions concerning the Collector base and the subsequent technological advancements that could have been spurned from keeping it though. The Illusive Man had voiced his discontent with Shepard.

"The technology from that base could have secured human dominance in the galaxy, against the Reapers and beyond," The Illusive Man had told him, trying to justify his reasons for keeping the base. It was too much a liability to keep around though. The power and technology on that base may have been able to help against the Reapers but at what cost? Shepard remembered the many lives that had been lost on the space station that he was being recreated and revived on. He tried to think about how many lives and how many credits were spent on the Lazarus Project alone. If he would have handed over the Collector Base to the Illusive Man what would have been done with it? Would it indeed have been used for the benefit and preservation of mankind?

"Human dominance? Or just Cerberus?" A legitimate question that Shepard felt The Illusive Man did not answer sufficiently. If the Reapers were a threat to the universe and every sentient being living in it then why continue on pushing for human and/or Cerberus dominance? The Council and the Human Systems Alliance would finally need to work together in order to stop this threat. They had begun to work well together in the two years since Captain…Councilor Anderson joined the Council. After saving the _Destiny Ascension_, humanity was granted a seat on the council and David Anderson seemed like the most logical choice in Shepard's eyes. Udina may have been pissed off in the long run but Shepard knew where his loyalties lied.

_"I know where my loyalties lie…"_ Ashley's words still haunted him. Regardless of her trying to reach out to him through a perfectly worded message, Shepard was still hurt. He understood her anger towards him for not contacting her once Cerberus had revived him. But his assumptions seemed accurate, maybe she had moved on without him. Anderson told him that she was now Operations Chief Williams before her being reassigned to Horizon. Two years and a second lifetime's worth of memories had seemingly set the two apart from each other. Ash had moved on, and unwillingly, Shepard did to.

But something happened in the days after the mission on Horizon that Shepard did not intend on; Miranda Lawson. All to often Miranda portrayed herself as a heartless bitch who would not let her cold heart be melted away, but the Commander found a way in. Miss Lawson was always an attractive women and Shepard did notice a bit of attraction for him on her part, but it was finally confirmed that night in her office….

"I don't know what this is! If this is just stress or blowing off stream or…" Miranda had said to him. She couldn't look the Commander in the eyes and he didn't know why until she spoke. It was then he realized that she did have feelings for him, the same feelings that he had grown to feel for her. It was the night he saw he talk to Orianna that he began to love her, and those feelings grew more when he saw her crying after she talked to Orianna.

"I care about you Miranda. And I know you care about me," he had replied back with. He could not believe that he had said those words. Not that he was lying to her, because he wasn't. He couldn't believe it because he was Commander Shepard. The galaxy's hero, and everyone on the crew saw him as a bad ass. It was nice though to show Miranda that he was still human and not some damn super hero.

"This is no time for emotional entanglement!" Miranda came back with. She turned away and walked towards her bed. "You and I know more about the Collectors than anyone. We know how unlikely it is that we are coming out of this alive. What idiotic bunch of hormones thought that now would be a good time for love?" Miranda sat down on her bed and looked up at him. Her brown hair flowed down her back and her deep brown eyes stared at him. He sensed the confusion, the worry, the concern, and every other emotion that was racing through her head. She crossed her legs and her skin tight outfit clung to every curve and contour of her body.

"It doesn't matter. What matters is how we feel," Shepard cringed inside. _Holy shit that was cheesy_, he thought to himself.

"Damn it," Miranda said looking away. How could it have come this far so quick? Love was such a complicated emotion, and they were on a mission to save the galaxy from the Collectors. Why was she feeling this?

Shepard looked down at her and took in a deep breath, "Come on Miranda. You want this."

"Yea," Miranda said looking back up at him. "I do. So promise me you won't die! Promise me damn it!" She knew that was something that he could not promise her. Promising not to die? If he agreed then he was a bigger fool than she was for letting this feeling of love overpower her.

"It doesn't work that way Miranda. We could all be dead by this time tomorrow. So if it's not worth it…" Shepard said, but before he could finish, Miranda interrupted him. She stood up and walked over to him and leaned in and pressed her chest against his, and felt Shepard wrap his arms around her. She laid her head down against his shoulder and slipped her arms around his waist. It was nice to be held by someone who looked upon her for more than her brains and her body. Shepard loved her.

"No it is," she said back, pulling away. "Give me some time. When I am ready I will come by. Okay?" They stared at each other for only a few seconds but it felt like an eternity…

Cerberus and The Illusive Man's money may have brought him back to life and once more put breath in his lungs, but it was Miranda who made him human again. She helped him remember that he did have a soul and that there were things in life worth fighting for. She was one of them. She was worth living for, and if had to do it again, she was worth dying for.

All of these thoughts and memories swirled around like a hurricane in the mind of Commander Christian Shepard. Conflicting emotions rose up inside of him when he would ponder too long on a certain memory. The doors to his cabin opened up and he stumbled on into his cabin. He had yet to remove his armor and don his casual clothes after his talk with The Illusive Man. That had been a couple of hours ago, or at least he thought it had been. The crew was busy trying to restore the _Normandy_ to its normal state and make sure that all of the systems were online. Continuous head counts were being taken to make sure that they did have everyone on board. Most of the crew had finally taken the time to rest and relax. A feeling of peacefulness finally surrounded everyone and was able to ease the tension and lighten the mood.

What was next for the crew of the _Normandy_? Cerberus was behind them, and the Collectors were beneath them. Shepard knew that this transition period would be crucial for the crew and made up their minds for them. They would rejoin the Alliance and give back arguably the strongest ship in the galaxy to the Alliance Navy. Maybe that would change how the council viewed Shepard. Not that they were still weary of him because they weren't, they still saw him as having motives that would help only humans and not every council race.

Christian laid down on his bed and closed his eyes, trying to enjoy these few moments of comfort and tranquility. Every muscle in his body burned and ached as he tried to move and get comfier on his bed. He had not slept for nearly two days and he was exhausted. Hopefully now he could get the well deserved rest he so greatly desired. The fighting was over…for now.

**Kahn**

Kahn stood around an oval table. The stone table was merely a charade to those who were not familiar with how the Anahaus worked. An orange light began to flash and the top part of the table disappeared and flat projector laid facing the ceiling in the war room. Kahn's furry paw reached out and using one of his claws he pressed a few buttons. A moment later more lights began to slowly turn on in the room, illuminating it for the giant beast. Computers and weapons were lined up against the stone walls ominously. Cords hung from the ceiling as well did other computer monitors and a set of recording devices. The large creature made his way across the room towards another computer module and watched the interface flash a host of different colors. After a few moments of waiting a creature much like Kahn popped up on the screen. He too was furry and had a long snout with razor sharp fangs protruding from his mouth, much like a canine. His beady red eyes glared across at Kahn and drool began to drip from its mouth. Kahn realized that he must have interrupted the other Anahaus's feeding time.

"Speak quickly," it said in a low muffled tone. Kahn could see parts of flesh in his mouth when he spoke.

"Exalted one," Kahn said bowing his head. "Forgive my intrusion but I have good news for you." Kahn paused for a moment before he began. "_He_ is still alive." Nothing more was spoken between the two creatures for a few moments. The second creature knew who Kahn was talking about, there was only one human that interested the Anahaus theses days.

"How do you know this," he replied back with, wiping some of the drool from his face. "Last our reports indicated _he_ was making _his_ way through the Omega 4 Relay. Nothing comes back from there successfully."

"But _he_ has come back your Excellency," Kahn said. "Not only has _he_ come back, but the ship _he_ entered in with is undamaged." The second Anahaus, one named Geng, stood there speechless. Passage through the Omega 4 Relay seemed impossible, but for a ship to go through it and come back is remarkable. _He_ was better than they had hoped for.

Geng was the military leader of the Anahaus race, a position that can only be ascertained by challenging the currant leader and successfully killing him in one-on-one combat. Many years had gone by since he killed his former mentor and uncle and the Anahaus had seen very prosperous times. They had perfected cloning and their numbers were growing exponentially. So quickly that overcrowding on many of the Anahaus planets, especially their home world Vert was becoming a problem. Regulations and restrictions were eventually put in place and the population increase had begun to level off a little bit.

Geng had captured hundreds of Salarian doctors and put them to work to help with the cloning processes. They were much more efficient and smarter than the Anahaus, but were very afraid of their captures. Their smaller fingers made it easier for them to manipulate the cells and genes of each Anahaus, and their bigger brains meant that they were able to find new ways to make the Anahaus bigger and better. Many of the Salarian doctors were killed by Geng personally, because they would not cooperate. But enough threatening and enough bribery, the rest of the Salarians were convinced to stay and be a part of Geng history.

"_He_ is a bigger threat than we first assumed he would be," Geng said. Although the Anahaus were predominantly out in the Terminus Systems and did not concern themselves with the matters of humans and the council, they had been watching _him_ since the Skyllian Blitz. Batarians were worthy adversaries and on that day _he_ had held them off and gained recognition throughout the human community. The Anahaus kept a close eye on _him_ during the Eden Prime Wars, all the until _his_ death two years ago. It was a shame that Geng and the rest of the Anahaus were not able to cross paths with _him_ before that day. So when they heard that _he _had been resurrected of course their interests had been piqued.

_He_ had been investigating the disappearances of human colonies and was eventually drug into a war with the mysterious Collectors, a sentient race that even the Anahaus did not deal with on a regular basis. Geng and his war council knew that the Collectors lived just beyond the Omega 4 Relay, so naturally they knew _he_ was going to confront them. Now Kahn was telling him that _he _had come back from the Relay unscathed! An amazing human this one, one that could be a threat to the Anahaus if they were willing to continue on with their plan.

"What are your thoughts Excellency?" Kahn asked. Geng was deep in thought over this matter. If the Anahaus were to succeed in their plans then he knew who they had to contend with. Humanity followed and looked up to _him_ and treated him as if he were a great deity, they treated him better than a deity at times. Such an interesting yet funny little race of beings they were. Humans craved power and wealth and would stop at nothing to get to it.

"Excellency?" Kahn asked once more.

Geng came out of his small daydream and snapped back at Kahn, "We will wait it out General Kahn. We have no idea as to what _his_ intentions are as of yet. With the Collectors destroyed where will _he_ go? We must keep our eyes and ears open for any new information that may surface. Until then, we shall lay low and wait for _him_ to make a bold move. For now, you continue to oversee the production of more soldiers. I want to make sure that we are fully prepared for what we are going to do. I am counting on you Kahn. No one must know of what we plan to do." Kahn bowed as the picture faded away.

Excitement shot through his muscularly furry body. Kahn was the pinnacle of Anahaus cloning and evolution. Orders from Geng himself went to the Salarian doctors who were creating Kahn and asked that they make him an experiment. His genes were enhanced so much that he was nearly half a foot taller than other Anahaus and out weighed many of them as well. He was stronger, faster, and much more intelligent than was once thought possible. Geng also demanded that Kahn be grown at a faster rate. It took five years for a cloned Anahaus to reach maturity, but Kahn was grown in less than three. Now he was second in command of the Anahaus empire, something that he did not take lightly.

Kahn turned back around to the stone table in the middle of the room. The orange panel began to light up and a distorted image came up in front of him. _Damn machine_, he thought. He lifted his thick leg and bumped it against the table, causing the picture to flicker and then start to clear up. A smile came across his face when the picture finally cleared up. It was a small ship with the word "NORMANDY" pasted on the side of it. It was a sight to behold. The ship that passed through the Omega 4 Relay and came back undamaged, truly remarkable. Kahn could not wait to cross paths with the crew of this ship one day. It was unfortunate though that the ship, and its crew, would ultimately have to be destroyed.


	2. New Beginnings

**New Beginnings**

Miranda Lawson laid next to Shepard, her back was to him and her shoulders were uncovered by his bed sheets. He laid there staring at, what he considered, to be the perfect woman. When he thought about her being perfect he did not think of all the things she told him that her father did, no, all he saw was a woman that he had grown to love over the past few weeks. A woman that thought herself as cold and heartless and yet was easily broke down by her feelings for Shepard. Shepard smiled when he thought of how he was able to get through he rough exterior and into her heart. Now she was spending the night in his cabin for the first time. It was a little bittersweet for him though, the last woman to have stayed over night with him in his cabin had ended up questioning just who he was his loyalties. But deep down he knew that Miranda would never do that.

Shepard moved slowly towards the edge of the bed and looked back to make sure that Miranda did not wake up. He moved a little farther and she started to move slowly and rolled over and looked at him with her big brown eyes. The two lovers looked at each other in silence for a moment.

"Hello there Commander," she said, reaching out and rubbing his arm. She smiled and moved a little closer to him, keeping the sheets from uncovering herself. "Where are you going?" She finally reached him and laid her head on his lap and looked up into his emerald eyes. Her hand ran up his back, to his neck, and to his scraggly hair. It desperately needed cut but she was not going to start out this relationship by being demanding.

"It is morning Miranda," Shepard said with a grin. "For starters, I need to pee." Miranda jokingly cringed and looked back up at him and smiled. "Councilor Anderson has told me that the council wants to me meet with me and the crew and bring us back into the Alliance Navy. With the upgrades that we have been able to implement on the _Normandy_, it will make it a huge asset to the Alliance."

"Will the _Normandy_ be the asset? Or will all of us be the assets?" Miranda asked sitting up. "I trust your judgment Shepard but let's face it, you are not the most popular person in the eyes of the council."

Shepard sighed, "You would think that saving their lives and bringing Saren to justice would at least be a start. They need to know that I am not like The Illusive Man. As much as I would like to see humanity prosper, I know that it may take baby steps in order for that to happen. And I also know that it is going to take more than money and power to get what we want." Miranda smiled and gently put her hand on the side of his face and rubbed it. Christian closed his eyes and got lost in her touch for a moment. He turned his head and kissed the palm of her hand.

"If getting the council on your side is that important to you then I will be there by your side," Miranda said. That was very reassuring for the Commander. Despite all that he had done for humanity, the Alliance, and the council, he felt like he had very few true allies. Anderson was one that he knew would stick with him, alone with Joker, and maybe Garrus. Having his love Miranda tell him that she would stick with him made things a little easier on him.

"Hey Commander," popped in Joker's voice through the communication system in Shepard's cabin. Christian rolled his eyes because he knew that Joker and EDI were listening to their conversation, but for how long he didn't know. "I just wanted to give you a heads up. We are about an hour out from the Citadel. Just wanted to relay information to my two favorite people!" The comms clicked off and Shepard saw Miranda begin to blush a little bit. Shepard leaned over and kissed the side of her head and got out of the bed.

Miranda watched as he walked over to the bathroom and disappeared into it for a moment. She bit her lip gently when she heard the sound of the water streaming from the shower head. Naughty thoughts began to whirl around in her mind as she took a lock of hair and began to play with it in her fingers. She sat intently and waited for Shepard to pop his head back out and offer for her to come in and join him. A few moments passed and he never showed himself. Miranda cocked her head and became a little upset that he never offered for her to join him. She got out of the bed and tip-toed over to the bathroom. She walked in and felt someone grab her by the waist and pull her into his arms. Shepard's lips pressed gently against her neck as the two backed up into the shower.

"I thought you would never come and join me," Shepard said teasingly to her. She turned and looked at him.

"I should not have to come in on my own, you should have asked me you ass," she came back with. Before she could come back with anything else Shepard kissed her passionately. Most of the next hour was filled with the two of them in the shower, trying to make one bad excuse after another to stay in with each other. They finally came to the conclusion that they should exit and get ready with the rest of the crew.

Shepard looked at his clothes. They still had the Cerberus logo on the chest and that would not make the council happy to see that. Miranda watches him as she zipped up her boots and threw her brown hair into a ponytail.

"Something wrong Shepard?" she asked watching him. He looked at her, a frown on his face and laid his clothes down on the bed. She giggled quietly and looked back up at him. "Is that all? You don't have anything appropriate to wear?"

"Wearing a Cerberus logo could potentially be detrimental to winning the council over Miranda," he said to her. Miranda stood from the bed and placed her hands on his back and rubbed it gently. He smiled and knew what she was trying to do, reassure him.

"I understand your nervous Christian," she said. She had never used his first name before, and she liked how it sounded. "Just wear the clothes and we can pick up some more when we are on the Citadel, okay?" She kissed his broad shoulders, and teasingly backed away so he could continue getting dressed. Miranda made her way over to the fish tank and fed the fish for the Commander as he finished getting dressed.

Shepard examined Miranda with her hair up in a ponytail. He liked it. I showed that she was willing to try something new and not always keep her hair down, even though Shepard liked that as well. They walked out together to the elevator and rode it down to the CIC. Before the doors opened, Shepard wondered what everyone's reactions would be when they exited together, but in truth it did not matter too much. At least no one would say anything out of line. Shepard was in charge and Miranda was second in command, even before they began sleeping with each other.

The doors opened and Shepard was pleased to see the ensigns working instead of standing around and talking to each other. Keeping the _Normandy_ going was an around the clock job, even more so after they continued to upgrade it constantly. All of the upgrades that had been made worked to perfection against the Collectors and when passing through the Relay.

Kelly Chambers turned around and smiled at the Commander and Operative Lawson as they walked towards the galaxy map. Miranda grabbed Shepard's arm and tugged on him a little bit, stopping him in his tracks. She pulled him close and leaned in to whisper something.

"I am going to have a chat with Joker," she said quietly. "I will see you before we dock on the Citadel." She kissed his cheek and walked off, swaying herself back and forth almost as if to tease the Commander. He shook his head and over to Kelly who, as always, had a smile on her face and was very jovial.

"Good morning Commander," she said to him. She watched the screen in front of her as she updated and studied the dossiers of the crew members. Kelly was always reviewing her notes and psyche profiles of each _Normandy_ crew member in order to be a better asset for the team. Shepard admired her craving for more knowledge and her work ethic.

"Anything new this morning Kelly?" he asked, trying to see who it was she was doing research on.

"Not at this time Commander," she said to him, keeping her eyes on her work. After her abduction by the Collectors she had gotten much more serious despite being happy all of the time. Shepard knew it was the close encounter with death that had bothered her.

Christian left Kelly and stood up by the galaxy map and saw the different star systems and relays pop up in front of him. The galaxy was huge and the most darkened corners of it were beginning to have light shed on them through various races colonizing and researching them. It was always a dream of Shepard's to have tried to visit a majority of them but after joining the Alliance he found out that the galaxy can be a dangerous place to live in. Having military training and guns made him feel much safer though.

Shepard lifted his eyes from the map and saw Miranda walking back from the cockpit, back towards him. She winked at him and walked through the set of doors that led into the armory. He was not quite sure what it was she had done but he was almost certain that Joker got an earful.

"Commander we have a birth and the clearance to dock. Moving in," Joker said over the ship wide comms. "Councilor Anderson will be waiting for you at the docking bay, hope all goes well." Shepard nodded and took over the comms for himself and cleared his throat.

"I will be leaving the ship for a day or so," he began. "You are welcome to take this time off to relax and gather some supplies. Stay within a good radius of the ship and do not get into any trouble. If I hear that you have, there will be consequences for your actions. Try to have some fun and enjoy this time people. Everyone of us has earned it." He clicked off the comms and walked towards the air lock and waited for the _Normandy_ to dock.

Joker guided the _Normandy_ almost flawlessly towards one of the many docks on the Citadel. There had been a lot of construction and renovations since the battle against the rogue Spectre Saren and his army of Geth and Krogan. Many of the old shops and clubs that were so famous for being on the Citadel were lost or had to be gotten rid of due to the damage caused. Chora's Den, one of Joker's favorite places to attend, had been replaced with the new Dark Star Lounge. Joker was very unimpressed with it. But he barely got enough shore leave to even enjoy the new club so what did it matter to him.

The docking bay was starting to get bigger and more details and shapes could be noticed as Joker flew the ship towards it next destination. The amount of ships that had docked and left the Citadel in the time that it took Joker to finally dock was innumerable. It was amazing how many people and ships this station could hold. Of course the Citadel was a marvel all in its own. It was such a massive and beautiful space station and no matter how many times he visited it, he would still get lost in the grandeur of it all. The Protheans had left behind the Relays and the Citadel, amongst other amazing wonders and humanity was still trying to figure them all out.

The _Normandy_ swooped in and slowed down the closer it got to the designated dock. Magnetic panels crept out towards the _Normandy_ and attached itself to the sides of the ship, keeping it in place. From the catwalk in front of Councilor Anderson a platform moved towards the _Normandy_ and connected underneath the airlock. Anderson straightened himself up and waited patiently for the airlock to open up. The last time the Commander had talked with the council, the conversation did not go the way Anderson had hoped it would. Of course working with Cerberus was something that the council did not approve of. Despite Anderson's protests, the council still was a little weary of the Commander and did not fully approve of his actions.

Anderson stood next to his friend even when it was hard for him considering his position on the council. He did owe Shepard a lot. He was the one that Shepard picked as the human representative on the council. Udina may have been the better choice for the job but Anderson brought a new, military view to the council and their politics. Things had gone relatively smooth between Anderson and the council, although they did have their moments of conflict.

The airlock on the _Normandy_ opened up and Anderson saw the savior of the Citadel, Commander Christian Shepard. His hair had grown out a little bit since the last time they had last spoke and he needed a good shave. The Cerberus logo on Shepard's shirt concerned him a little bit but that could be taken care of easily. Two other humans walked behind him, both of them Anderson recognized. They had escorted Shepard when he visited him a couple of weeks ago.

"Commander Shepard," Anderson said. He extended his hand and Shepard shook it firmly. "I am glad to see that what I have heard is true, you are still alive and in one piece." Shepard cracked a small smile.

"Dying one time is enough for me councilor," he said pulling his hand back. "I would really like for it to wait until I am older to happen again. It is good to see you Councilor."

"It is good to see you too Shepard. From what I have read and been told you found out the reasons behind the disappearing colonies. Congratulations on once again proving everyone else wrong and saving every sentient being in the galaxy. You make me damn proud," Anderson said.

"So how is it that you were able to find out all of this information?" Shepard asked folding his arms.

"Well Shepard, I always have my ways of finding out information," Anderson said. He leaned forward and whispered. "Joker has been sending me messages and mission updates periodically. We couldn't just let Cerberus go about doing what they wanted could we?" Shepard chuckled. He wasn't quite sure how Joker was able to give out information to the Alliance without EDI knowing but at this point Shepard didn't care. This saved him from having to explain a lot of things to Anderson, but he did want to go through the details of their battle with the Collectors. The quartet walked from the docking bay and took the rapid transit towards Anderson's office. The artificial sky was a bright blue and was lined with a few 'clouds'.

Miranda looked out over the side of the sky car and watched the various politicians and workers walking and going about their daily lives. They all had no idea what it was like to have to look down into the pits of hell and spit at Satan himself. All they could worry about were damn deadlines and if they could make it back home on time for dinner. She wondered how many people outside of Cerberus and those associated with the councilor knew about them going to the Collector home world.

How would the Council look upon Shepard now? Miranda knew they had been very upset when they found out he was working for Cerberus, but since he resigned so forcefully maybe accepting him back would be a little easier. Christian had told her about the arguments he would get in with the Council and the many disagreements during the Eden Prime War. He had proved them wrong when he revealed Saren as a rogue Spectre. That was the extent of it though. They refused to believe that the Reapers were out there and were even a threat to the galaxy. Maybe this time it was going to be a little different.

The sky care lowered to the ground and stopped in the Presidium and the side door opened up, allowing the passengers to exit the car. It lifted off of the ground once more and took off to its next set of passengers. Anderson and Shepard continued to discuss the events against the Collectors. He led them up to his office and took a seat behind his desk.

"Miranda and Jacob were able to pull me into the ship and we took off like a bat out of hell," Shepard said. "It was nice to look back and watch the damn thing blow. A lot of lives were lost because of the Collectors, and it was nice to get a little bit of revenge on the ugly bastards."

"I bet it was Shepard," Anderson said. "But the Collectors and the vanishing colonies are not why I asked you to come here today. I want you to come back and rejoin the Alliance. We need you Shepard. Hell we could use your entire crew and the _Normandy_ once more. There hasn't been another soldier like you in the years since your death."

"I would love to Councilor, but how would the Council and Udina feel about it?" Shepard asked.

"The Turian representative is the only one who would have a real problem with it," Anderson replied. "And Udina is my problem, so you don't need to worry about him. In fact the Council is ready to meet with you and I at anytime to discuss this issue. You could be back in the navy before the end of the day." Shepard was a little shocked at the expediency of everything. It was rare the Council worked so fast, but he was not going to complain on bit about it. They were willing to bring him back in, that was good enough.


	3. Reinstatement

**Reinstatement**

Despite all of the destruction that Sovereign and Saren caused two years ago, the Council meeting chambers were not much changed. It was still a large room with a long platform in the middle that extended out so the Council could address whomever it was coming to see them. The podiums they stood at looked like they had been upgraded slightly but nothing too dramatic had been done to it. On lookers could still watch from balconies and view the dealings of the Council.

Each of the Council representatives took their respective places on their balcony and pushed a couple of buttons on the pads in front of them. Anderson stood tall and proud between the Turian and Asari representatives. He had a new found confidence and revitalized vigor about moving humanity forward, alongside of the rest of the galaxy. Just like Shepard, Anderson knew that in order for humanity to be accepted they had to try and play nice with the other council races. With races such as the Turians being so skeptical about humanity, it behooved Anderson to do what he could to stay on the good side of the representative.

All four of the representatives looked at each other and nodded, letting the others now that they were ready to begin. A series of lights began to switch on over the platform in the middle of the room, as well as a series of lights that outlined the walkway up to the platform. It was the new way to signal those who sought an audience with the Council to know that they were up. The four representatives watched on as Udina first began to appear walking up the steps. Behind him was Shepard, Miranda, and Jacob. Miranda and Jacob looked around at the grandeur of the Council's meeting area. Shepard stood next to Udina and surveyed the Councilors. Anderson looked like her belonged up there with them.

The last time Shepard was here, the scenery was completely different. Saren and his army had been very successful in creating chaos and damn near destroying the center of galactic affairs. Trees were on fire, buildings were destroyed, and hundreds of humans and aliens alike were left dead. In Shepard's mind he began to imagine how the Citadel looked two years ago. He remembered what he and the rest of the Alliance sacrificed during the Eden Prime War. Many human lives were lost in the preservation of galactic freedom. A lot of good men like Kaiden Alenko lost their lives because of Saren's treachery, but Shepard and the crew of the original _Normandy_ made sure that all of their sacrifices were not in vain.

Memories of that day came to an abrupt end when the Turian representative cleared his throat and began to speak. "Commander Shepard, it has been awhile since have got to see you in person. Of course the last time we saw you, you were not working for Cerberus."

Shepard did not like it when people told him that he worked for Cerberus. "I never once said I worked for the organization. I simply worked along side of them because they were the only ones who cared to do anything about the vanishing human colonies. And we found out was behind it, the Collectors."

"Interesting, the Collectors," the Salarian said. "They were a race that we never considered. Of course why would we have? They are normally a quite race that tens to keep to themselves and rarely travel outside of the Omega 4 Relay, let alone traveling outside of the Traverse. How did Cerberus go about dealing with this? Surely Cerberus funded you greatly."

"Cerberus and The Illusive Man gave me the money and means to create a squad of ten people," Shepard began. "Together we were able to make passage through the Omega 4 Relay and to the Collector base. It was a remarkable thing to behold, its size put the Omega space station to shame. My team was strong and willing to go through hell in a hand basket for me. We stopped the Collectors and destroyed their base. Everyone of my squad and crew members were able to escape that base with our lives and the _Normandy_ still intact. A lot of the members on my crew called it a suicide mission, and we survived it."

"Our congratulations Commander Shepard," the Asari said. "But what of Cerberus and The Illusive Man? How did you deal with them once after you destroyed the Collector Base?"

Shepard chuckled to himself under his breath. "Let's just say that I put in my resignation with Cerberus and told The Illusive Man what I thought about he and his company. If humanity is going to prosper in galactic affairs then we need to learn how to work along side the rest of the council races. Cerberus did not view it that way. They only wanted what was best for them. The Illusive Man preached about human progression, but to me it only seemed as if he cared about Cerberus and not humanity alone. The rest of my crew shares the same opinion as I do. Here with me are both former Cerberus Operatives, Miranda Lawson and Jacob Taylor."

"How can we trust that they are not just telling you what you want to hear Commander?" the Turian asked, trying to ruffle up Shepard's feathers.

He took a step forward and glared at the Councilor, "I trust Miranda and Jacob with my life. They stood by my side against the Collectors as did the rest of my crew. Miranda and Jacob have both proven themselves to me time and time again as competent soldiers and worthy of being called my allies." He purposefully failed to mention his and Miranda's more than personal relationship.

"You keep referring to a strong team Commander. What kinds of people do you have assembled on this team of yours?" the Turian asked.

"Myself and the two others you see in front of you of course," the Commander began. "An Asari Justicar named Samara." An 'impressed' look came over the face of the Asari Councilor. "A Drell named Thank Krios, a Krogan named Grunt, the Salarian doctor Mordin Solus, Tali'Zorah Vas Normandy, a former criminal named Jack, Garrus Valkarian, and a reprogrammed Geth known as Legion." There was a moment of silence after Shepard finished with the mentioning of Legion. The Councilors looked around at each other, then at Anderson directly. He shook his head and they all looked back to Shepard.

"You have an intact Geth on your ship that fights along side of you?" Anderson asked. This definitely piqued his interest. "I am surprised that he has not tried to kill any of you, or the Quarian on your vessel."

"Legion explained to me that all Geth are actually apathetic towards organics," Shepard explained. "He referred to the Geth that fought along side of Saren as 'heretics' and 'The Old Machines'. Before we passed through the Omega 4 Relay Legion gave us the coordinates for an old Quarian space station that was over ran with these 'heretics'. They had been creating a virus that would have all Geth work directly for the Reapers." He paused for a moment and realized that mentions of the Reapers was probably a bad idea. The Councilors, save Anderson, did not believe that the Reapers were a threat to all sentient life forms. "Legion was able to reverse the virus and upload it to the 'heretics' and have them peacefully rejoin the normal Geth. We have been waiting on reports of how that is going. And as far as Tali and Legion go, they have been sharing non-confidential files and technology with each other and have been getting along very well."

"Impressive Commander Shepard," the Asari said. "It would appear that a lot could be learned from you in regards to intergalactic politics." She paused. "Now the real reason why you are here Commander Shepard; to be reinstated into the Alliance Military, along with your ship. We all know the talent that you possess and how great of an asset you are to the Alliance, but more importantly we know how great of an ally you are to the Council. You saved our lives and we are eternally thankful for that Commander. At the urging of Councilor Anderson we have decided unanimously to grant you and the _Normandy_ the right back into the Alliance military. All crew members of the _Normandy_ will be also be allowed into the Alliance, should they accept the offer."

Shepard looked up to Anderson and Anderson gave him a nod and a half cracked smile. He had to maintain a sense of professionalism while standing up there with the council. Standing in front of the Council was an intimidating feeling, although Shepard would never let them know he felt that way. They could possibly use that to their advantage and have Shepard and his crew run around doing meaningless tasks for them. Shepard simply stood his ground and kept a cold look on his face, one that could not be read or interpretated in any way.

"Thank you Councilors," he said. "It is good to be back where I feel I belong. I will share the news and the offer with the rest of my crew. I doubt I will have a hard time trying to convince any of them to continue working with Cerberus."

"Councilor Anderson will meet with you in office once our meeting here is adjourned," the Turian spoke up again. "He will explain to you in greater detail what it is that we expect out of you." Shepard did not like him. It was almost like the Turian looked down upon Shepard and humans, like most Turians did. Garrus was one of the few who did see the good that could potentially arise from having humans as allies and on the Council. Shepard was grateful that the Asari Councilor, like most Asari, was generous and kind towards himself and the rest of the human race. It had always seemed like an uphill struggle with the Council when it came to getting things down, but this visit with them was a little easier and less confrontational.

Shepard felt at an ease when the meeting had finally ended and he was seated in Councilor Anderson's office. The artificial sky on the Citadel was no longer the bright blue but it had changes colors to very deep and dark purple with an orange hue, to simulate night time and a sun setting. Most of the politicians and workers from different organizations were already back in their homes, but a few were just now leaving their offices for one reason or another. He shifted his body a little bit waited for the Councilor to get confirmation from his personal assistant that everything had finally cleared. A few of the files and articles that needed to be redone still had Shepard listed as K.I.A., and it was not common that this process had to be done. Jack's criminal background and shady past did not help things go any smoother either, but Shepard was able to have many of the things she did erased and forgotten about.

"Well Shepard that just about is everything," Anderson finally had said. The Councilor did enjoy seeing Shepard again but it was beginning to get late and he wanted to go home. "Everyone is on file and you are once again officially Commander Christian Shepard, alive and well." Shepard smiled and stood. He stretched out a little bit and let out a small yawn. "I am sorry for it taking so long. We just wanted to make sure that we got everything in the right place."

"No need for apologies Councilor," Shepard said extending his hand. "You are my oldest friend and I would do anything for you, you know that." Anderson stood and shook the Commander's hand. It did not seem that long ago when Shepard first became a Spectre and was chasing after Saren. Now he had twice saved the galaxy from an evil threat and proved himself as one of the best soldiers that the Alliance had.

"I wish there were more men like you Commander Shepard," Anderson said. "We could use an entire army of hard working ass kickers like yourself. It is good to have you back son." Shepard smiled, thanked him, and left with Miranda and Jacob. He was tired. It had been a long day of doing nothing but paperwork and sitting on his ass. The Rapid Transit Shuttle ride back to the docking bay seemed to drag on, but they were finally back at the _Normandy._ Shepard looked at the hull and noticed that the removal of the Cerberus logo had already began and a the new N7 logo would be put on sometime the next day.

The airlock hissed open and much to Shepard's delight, the crew was continually working and running maintenance on the ship. Joker hobbled out of the bathroom and sat down in the cockpit and brought up screen after screen of potential problems that could arise with the ship. It was good to know that even during his absence the crew still worked diligently. The _Normandy_ did indeed have the best crew of any ship that he had ever seen. The only small problem that Shepard ever had to deal with was the blending in of such a diverse group of soldiers, mercs, doctors, etc. The personal issues did go deeper than that with Miranda and Jack having their big blow up and Tali threatening to shoot Legion down in the AI Core. Everyone put their differences aside when it came down to business and almost forgotten there were even any fights at all.

Jacob immediately took off for the armory after they had gotten on board. He had made it a goal for he and EDI to make cataloging the weapons easier and trying to find a way to improve the thermal clips they had used. All to often they had been left without any clips in their main weapons and had to resort to using their pistols and sniper rifles in sticky situations.

The Commander approached his private terminal and saw out of the corner of his eye Miranda take the elevator up to his cabin. She winked as the door shut, sending shivers up his spine and giving him goose bumps. He quickly sorted through his messages and went up to his cabin also. It was getting late and most of the crew would be going to bed for the night. On the ride up he did wonder what Legion did most nights, but quickly put that in the back of his mind. After seeing Miranda head up to his cabin nothing else mattered to him.

He stepped off of the elevator and once the door opened to his cabin he saw her standing at his desk with her back to him. Instantly he thought back to the engine room, the first time they had shared a more than intimate moment together. Gently, the Commander walked up behind her and began to kiss her neck. She leaned back into him and closed her eyes, enjoying the sensation of Shepard's touch. He was glad that she had put her hair up. It made things much easier since he did not have her hair to deal with. Not wasting anytime, Shepard reached on around Miranda and unzipped her suit and watched as it gracefully came off of her shoulders and down her sides. He remembered her telling him that she did not mind if Shepard admired her body. Admiring was the least of what he was doing with her body at this time.

She pushed the Commander back a little and turned to face him. Miranda pressed her lips against his and began to remove his shirt. Shepard was reluctant to break the kiss but finally did once Miranda got the shirt close enough to his face. She smiled once the shirt was off and kissed him once more. Christian grinned in the kiss and broke it once more to finish getting Miranda's clothes off of her. She teased him by playfully pushing his hands away and moving around on his desk. Shepard stopped and grabbed her around the waist and lifted her into his arms.

She grinned and stared into Shepard's green eyes as he carried her over to his bed and laid her down on it. A devilish smile came across his face as he finished taking off her clothes and then his as well. Shepard crawled into the bed and looked deep into Miranda's eyes when he got up to her. She mouthed 'I love you', and he mouthed it back to her. He kissed her once more and held her smooth body in his hands. This was the only way in his eyes to end such a successful day.


	4. Dr Corson

**Dr. Corson**

Kahn's massive body towered over the Salarian doctor. The behemoth was so big, when the doctor looked up as he laid on the ground, he could barely see any of the lights on the ceiling. Kahn's face could not even be made out due to the lack of light on it. As if the Anahaus towering over him wasn't enough, the doctor could feel the slobber that was dripping out of the mouth of the beast. Warm breath that smelled like flesh of possibly another doctor hit his nose and caused him the cringe. If that wasn't enough, the sharp weapon at his side brought fear into the Salarian. A warm liquid had formed underneath him while he laid on the ground; he had peed himself. Embarrassed and afraid for his life, two things he had not foreseen when he woke up this morning.

Dr. Corson was one of the many Salarian doctors that were kidnapped by the Anahaus to help them pursue the art of cloning. Corson remembered the day that he was kidnapped. His wife and children were literally torn from him, there limbs and flesh strewn about in his apartment on Omega. He begged them not to harm his family but the Anahaus were to animalistic. They had a one track mind, which was both a blessing and curse to the species. During a battle they did whatever they could to achieve their objective, but this was not a battle and his family were not soldiers. The look on the face of his wife still haunted him to this day.

"Dr. Corson do you remember why it is we hand picked you for this project?" Kahn said in a very intimidating voice. Of course he remembered; it was to perfect cloning and teach the Anahaus how to manipulate their genes and create super soldiers, as if they weren't already a strong species already.

"Y-y-yes of course I do," he said in a high pitched tone. _Be strong damn it!_ He told himself. _Be strong for the rest of the doctors._ Corson struggled to his feet and looked up at Kahn. The Anahaus was a good foot and a half taller then him and easily ten times as strong. Kahn took a step forward, feeling that the doctor was almost challenging his authority by standing. Kahn reared back and took a swipe at the doctor's face. His massive paw slashed at his face. Kahn could feel the flesh rip off of the doctor as he knocked him back down.

Corson quickly put both hands to his face and then removed them and looked at the blood. Kahn had left three cuts across his face, but more important to Corson he had hurt his pride. One of Kahn's big feet came crashing down on the chest of Corson, crushing one of his ribs. Screams of agony and pain burst out of the doctor as Kahn pressed his foot down harder. What had he done to deserve this treatment? Everyday he woke up earlier than most of the doctors and worked harder than most of the doctors. Everything the Anahaus had asked of he had done, or at least given 110% at trying.

"You were brought here to help further the Anahaus race!" Kahn said in anger. He removed his foot from the doctor, reached down and grabbed his shirt, and lifted him into the air for everyone to look at. "You were chosen because you are one of the best doctors in the galaxy. We recruited you to help us with cloning and embryo manipulation. But the biggest thing we asked of you was to create an army of super soldiers. An army of Anahaus, like me, that were bred only for destruction."

"Yes…ugh…I know. The Annihilators!" the doctor cried out. Pain shot through his chest and face. Kahn was a perfect example of how far gene therapy and gene manipulation had come. Corson created him a little less than three years ago. It was Corson's crowning achievement, of his time as a prisoner at least. One of the other doctors had been killed days before the creating of Kahn was set into motion and Corson requested that the Salarian's brain be kept in decent condition. Although he did not have the means to start up the brain, he was able to take tissue samples and enzymes from the brain and mix it with the Anahaus embryo, thus creating a super Anahaus solder. The leader of the Anahaus had fears over Kahn though, fears that were only expressed to Corson and never to Kahn.

"He is too smart for his own good," Geng had said to him. "You did what exactly was asked of you doctor, but he is too smart. I will withhold my anger from you this one time, but do not let this happen again. I cannot have an Annihilator be able to think for himself. That could be devastating to our plans."

Corson was also afraid of Kahn's brain power as well. He had used too much of the Salarian doctor's brain when he was making him, something that he made sure to never do again. In fact, Geng wanted the Annihilators to be nothing but brainless psychopaths whose one joy was killing those weaker than it. One track mind. But Kahn was able to think for himself. Brains and might, a deadly combination to say the least. And not the doctor was having to regret his decision to try and impress the hierarchy.

"Then where are they! Where is my army!" Kahn roared. He pulled the doctor in and stared at him. His eyes pierced right into Corson, and Corson was afraid that he may have peed himself once more, but he couldn't be sure. Not at least while hanging in the air.

"We are running behind schedule yes, but believe me you will get them. You will have the army of Anahaus that has been requested!" His voice still cracked as he tried to explain the situation to Kahn. "The embryos for Annihilators take more time to grow, even with the enhanced growing hormones. It will take some time!" Kahn dropped the doctor and paced back and forth across the floor. "We should have the first batch of soldiers ready in about a week. Only ten have been able to survive all of the modifications to them."

"Ten? You were only able to keep alive ten of them?" Kahn turned back to him, anger and rage boiling up inside of him. Corson wanted desperately to look away but he stood his ground and got back up to his feet.

"This was the first group of subjects that we really felt comfortable with. Every other test group would have had birth defects." Corson began. "Genetic manipulation is a very rigorous and tedious ordeal. We have to make sure that every strand of DNA is just perfect before we can begin to grow the embryo. From there was must carefully monitor…" Kahn growled in anger and charged at the doctor. He grabbed Corson and pinned him up against a wall and put his gun in the doctor's face.

"Listen Salarian, I do not give a damn about the technical jargon," Kahn said. "All Geng and I care about is having our army created and ready for combat. Now, I don't care what it takes, I don't care what you have to do, but give us what it is we want. Give us our army!" Kahn pressed his thick furry forearm against the doctor's neck and began to choke him. Corson's eyes got bigger and his breathing rough as the Anahaus pushed harder. Kahn quickly stepped back and the doctor fell to the ground, coughing and gasping for breath. Some of the other doctors tried to comer over to help him up but he swatted them away. He was too damn stubborn to have accepted someone's help.

Dr. Corson got to his feet and wiped some of the blood that had dripped from the scratches on his face. He looked up at Kahn who stood and stared at him, menacingly. The two stared at each other for a moment but to Corson it felt like a lifetime. He regretted many of the modifications and changes that he did to the embryo that created Kahn. But now was not the time to sit and regret his life's choices, it was a time to try and preserve his life.

"One week you say," Kahn said, beginning to calm down a little bit. He began to rub the bottom of mouth with his massive paw and glared at the doctors. "Will they be battle ready once they are born? Or will we have to wait longer for that?"

"No more waiting will be required sir," another doctor piped up. "One of the modifications we have done was to equip them all with a wealth of knowledge concerning battles and wars. They will be full grown fighting machines, just as you and Geng had requested."

"It is good to know that one of you knows where your loyalties are," Kahn said. "You will receive extra rations in your meal tonight. Now get back to work! I want the army that we have been promised, and it needs to be when on schedule!" He turned and motioned for the other Anahaus that came with him to leave the room. For a few moments the laboratory was quiet and no one really took much notice of Dr. Corson, or at least made it look that way. There were cameras that kept a constant watch over the doctors and if they made any effort to help Corson there would be swift and terrible retribution.

Corson smiled and walked over to one of the computer terminals in the back of the room. When he was being thrown around by Kahn he noticed that one of the computer terminals was not picked up by one of the cameras in the room. The Anahaus were not big on computer hardware and the use of an AI, so transmitting a message out and it not being caught would be fairly easy for someone as smart as Corson. Just to be safe he was going to make sure that the message had some sort of encryption surrounding it. It would be traceable back here to the Genetic Facility though, and that was his plan. He wanted off of this world, and so did the rest of the doctors. They had spent the last five years in bondage, working an insane amount of hours for no pay and little food. Every Salarian in this place had lost their families to the Anahaus. While most of the doctors hoped that one day they would be able to leave wherever it is they were, the rest seemed almost content on being a slave. Being a slave to the Anahaus, though they were degraded daily and treated worse then the lowest life forms in the galaxy, offered up some form of protection for them.

Dr. Corson got to the terminal and accessed his personal files. One of the few small 'benefits' of being here was having been there when the computers and messaging systems were created. He knew the ends and outs of the system and could easily manipulate it in any he saw fit. There were certain protocols, firewalls, and checkpoints that were intentionally left out just in case the Salarians could find a way to escape. None of the Anahaus knew about this. If they did find out, those who were involved with the creation of the software would surely be found out and killed.

He wanted to send out some sort of distress message, but who would he send it to? He had no family and surely all of his friends would have assumed him dead after these past couple of years. He had no real colleagues because he had a tendency to leave them behind in his research. Not that he intentionally did it, he was just that smart and worked that fast. There was one funny man that he remembered meeting many years ago. It was another Salarian named Dr. Mordin Solus. He was the fast talking doctor who had helped try and cure the plague on Omega. Mordin was the type of individual who thought faster than he could speak and tended to go off on many rabbit trails when his mind was stuck on trying to figure something out. Corson blamed it on the possibility of Mordin's mother being a heavy drinker, but of course that was just a theory.

How would he contact the doctor though? The only sensible solution would be to send the message off to the clinic on Omega and see what happened from there. But what all to send? After all, Mordin was a doctor and not a soldier. There would not be much that he could do by himself. Maybe he would have contacts somewhere in the galaxy, people that he knew that were soldiers an could liberate Corson and the other doctors. The odds were firmly stacked against him but he had to try something. This was not the place Dr. Corson intending living out the rest of his life.

With great speed and precision, Corson typed out a message that was not too wordy, but had enough details on the situation. He felt that he needed to explain why it was the Anahaus had them and that he wasn't quite sure where he was at. Quite possibly Mordin would be able to trace where the signal came from and be able to locate him. His eyes left the screen a few times to make sure that none of his oppressors were watching him. Sweat rolled down his rough face and landed on the concrete floor he was standing on.

_"Done,"_ he thought. There was no time to proofread and make sure that his sentence structuring was right or if he made a punctuation error, so he sent it and breathed a sigh of relief. He cursed himself for noticing the cameras earlier, but he found comfort in knowing that he was able to get a message sent away. Using his forearm, he wiped the sweat away from his brow and went back to working on the embryos in front of them. It took everything he had inside of him to not give them some horrendous mutations or just destroy the embryos altogether. It was not worth dying, but he also did not want to continue creating an army that could possibly take over the galaxy.

His contributions had slowed down over the last year or so, but since the Anahaus delegated a good amount of duties to the Salarians, there was no need to keep a good record of how much he personally did. The only downside to it was there was no way of getting a good headcount on the amount of Anahaus that they already had begun growing and how many did not make it. All that was for sure was they had Kahn and ten other true Annihilators made, and those were the ones that would be finished within the week. After that, at least 100 more were on the way and would be fully mature in a month or two. Steady development rates meant that within a year the Anahaus could be innumerable. There had been talks about how they would catalogue how many they had made but so far they had yet to come up with a good idea. For now the good doctor could only wait and hope. Hope that maybe one day he could get away from here and back to some form of civil life.

**Deliberations**

Kahn stomped away from the laboratory and past a few of the holding cells that were used for the Salarians. All but a few were empty and would be filled up once more when their day of working was over. The Anahaus had a 'more work/less sleep' mentality. That was the best way to see results. The best way to get things accomplished that had been dreamt about for years. All that the Anahaus had worked hard for over the years was about to become known to the rest of the galaxy and it all depended on the Salarians. An awkward position to say the least. The Anahaus did not like working with any other race in the galaxy, in fact they damn near hated every other being in the galaxy. A hatred that stemmed from being virtually ignored and looked down upon for a lack of brain power. But what they lacked in brains, they made up for in brawn. Of course, how stupid could a race be that has damn near perfected cloning.

He and Geng had discussed for long hours just how exactly this plan of theirs would work out. An army would be bred and they would finally get the chance to reveal their full strength to the rest of the galaxy. For years the Anahaus were thought to be a weakened species with their lack of technology but of course with their recent breakthroughs they had learned how to bend the realm of nature and create superior creatures. They created virtually the perfect beings in a short amount of time. And with the help of the captured Salarians, they have been able to progress farther than they could have ever imagined.

Of course not all of what they did was with the help of the Salarians, in fact the Anahaus made their own training regiments that were used to develop all members of their army. They pushed themselves to the brink of oblivion and beyond, and for that they became ruthless and blood thirsty creatures. Beatings were given daily as a way of toughening up the young Anahaus, and they were constantly reminded of how they had been treated and oppressed by other creatures in the galaxy. Making their young and juvenile Anahaus angry was key to successfully turning them into relentless animals. Kahn thought about how he was treated when he was being 'initiated' into the lifestyle that he now knows to be normal. How many times had he been left broken and bloody in the middle of a floor, howling up for someone to stop beating him? It did not matter now, because he was the perfect specimen.

Everyone looked up to him to lead and guide his people. There had even been murmurs of him rising up and destroying Geng one day, but that was something that Kahn could not do. Geng was like family, what little idea he had of family. He had been the one who personally trained Kahn and made him into what he was. Geng was his mentor almost a father figure to him, whatever that meant. Being such an influence to him, was the main reason that Kahn referred to Geng as his uncle.

Kahn walked further down the long hallway and was greeted by every soldier and guard their with a low grunt. He practically ignored them all as he walked by. He walked through another door and into one of the many intricate tunnels that made up the research facility. The Salarians believed this base to be on the Anahaus home world, Vert. But the truth was it was on a different planet in an entirely different system. Different worlds had to be captured to keep up with the exponential growth of the Anahaus race, and this was one of the planets they found. Batarians called it Calypso, and the name stuck. Calypso was the only planet that Kahn had lived on, and he had never been to the home world of Vert. From what he heard the elders talking about, Vert had been turned into an overcrowded metropolis. More and more cloning facilities like the one he was in now had been popping up everywhere and the waste from each was just tossed out the window. They were obviously too focused on the task at hand to at least clean up their mess. Geng had made sure that Calypso had good waste management, and the waste was dealt with every three days.

The tunnel Kahn was in had giant glass windows all around it so one could see outside. Calypso was full of mountains and peaks, and the cloning facility was built into one particular set of mountains. On the outside it looked like a normal mountain range, but one peak of the mountain range along contained hundreds of rooms that were used for man different purposes. Many of them were the research labs and birthing rooms, others were the armories and all purpose rooms that were used for a variety of things. The tunnels were used to connect the peaks with each other, and could be retracted into the mountains if the Anahaus thought they may be in any kind of danger.

Kahn exited the tunnel and ended up in another part of the mountain range, this one was specifically built for the hierarchy of his people. Not much time had been invested into it, but the Anahaus did not care or dwell on such miniscule things as this. They would rather focus their time and energy furthering their race.

Only a few rooms and small out coves were constructed into this mountain and Kahn knew exactly where he had been ordered to, Geng's war room. His mentor and uncle was not on Calypso and would be addressing Kahn and the members of his war council from Vert. Kahn was to give an update on the progress of the first group Annihilators and anything else that Dr. Corson had told him. The other elders were here to continually check up on Kahn and make sure he was able to handle an entire operation on his own. None of the elders trusted him and his abilities, except for Geng, and Kahn was always eager to prove himself and make them look foolish.

He entered the room and their stood the other 5 members of the war council; Odsa, Darv, Boug, Vak, and Midor. Their jet black fur had began to show signs of their bodies aging and silver hairs were peaking out, predominately on their snouts. Each of them had a gun strapped to their hips and a large curved blade attached to the gauntlet on their right wrist. They all wore orange armor to signify their position in the Anahaus army as Grand Generals, one step below Geng, and one step above Kahn. Although he disliked all five of them, he respected who they were and they stood for in terms of the Anahaus race.

"Greetings elders," he said, placing his fist across his chest and lowering his head. This type of greeting was only done when in the presence of the war council members. Kahn had seen one of his close allies killed because he greeted on non-council member the way he would have one of the five elders. It was disrespect to greet anyone else like so, because the council members worked and fought their whole lives to be where they were.

They returned the greeting with a pompous smile and a grunt and shifted to face him. One of them spoke, it was Odsa, "We trust that you have good news for us young Kahn?"

"Yes I do general," Kahn said, cringing a little inside. He hated being referred to as 'young', even though he was. It was almost a sign of disrespect and a way of saying that he had not yet accomplished anything with his life. "Once Geng joins us then I will be glad to share with you the Salarian doctor gave me."

"How about we save you the trouble and you tell us what he said. We will gladly relay the information to him for you," Odsa replied. Kahn knew that it was a set up by the jealous generals. They wanted to try and make it look as if he was not doing his job.

"My orders General Odsa, were to deliver Geng with the information personally," Kahn said, sounding a little defensive. "I will see to it that I finish what was assigned to me."

"You were told to…" Odsa began, but was cut off by Kahn.

"I was told to bring information to Geng and you five were going to be here to listen to my report," he barked back. "I will see to it that I complete what was asked of me. If that bothers you Odsa then take it up with Geng." Kahn knew that Odsa was hard on the outside, but weak on the inside. He was afraid of Geng and the power that came with his position. Kahn would use that to his advantage when he was arguing with the elder.

"Learn your place whelp," said Odsa, as he turned back to where the projected image of Geng would show up. He was embarrassed and pissed off that he had let Kahn get to him once more. He was too smart for his own good.

A moment later and the lights in the war room darkened and only the red from the projector was all that was shining. All of the Anahaus bowed down to one knee and hung their heads in anticipation of Geng appearing before them all. It could be a long while before he showed up, or it could only be a few seconds. When the lights dimmed it meant that Geng had began to start transmitting.

After a few moments of kneeling and their massive legs beginning to cramp, Geng appeared before them all. He wore dark blue armor and 'walked' into the room with a confidence that all creatures in the galaxy envied. He owned whatever room he walked into and everyone gave him the respect that was due to him. For an Anahaus to be the leader of their military it took a courage and strength that not al Anahaus had. The leader had to kill the established military leader in combat, and failure to do so was considered to be treason and they were put to death. Only once had Geng been challenged, and the challenger was killed. Not since then had someone tried to take his position.

"Rise," he said to them. Even though it was a projected image of him, his presence could still be felt. He had a deep and booming voice that made the insides of anyone who listened to him do somersaults. Geng struck fear into the hearts of those who listened to him and looked at him. His stature and physical prowess was not made in a lab like Kahn, it was from years of pushing himself through rigorous training regiments and many battles with foes better than he.

All other Anahaus in the room stood and looked to their leader. He deserved their utmost respect, and they all would gladly fight to the death for him and give of their lives of it was expected of them to do so.

"The day we have long awaited for is growing closer my brothers," Geng said. His voice was rough but there was almost a poetic way in which he spoke. "Our enemies and those who have tried to keep us under constant scrutiny will soon know our power. I cannot explain to you how long I have waited to see the Turians be crushed by their foolish pride. To see the Asari's beauty desecrated by our power. The Salarian's believe they are better than most because they are smarter than other species. Krogans, Batarians, the Volus, they will be crushed by the new power that will rise. We could not have made it this far if it wasn't for the support I get from you my generals and you nephew." The holographic image of Geng turned and stood before Kahn. "How was the meeting with the good doctor Kahn?"

"The doctor informed me that we would have our first group of Annihilators within a week uncle," Kahn answered. "He did inform me that there was a problem with our first group of soldiers though. Only ten have been able to survive what the Salarians have done to them."

"Why is this? Surely the Salarians in all of their wisdom and knowledge could have prevented any complications," Geng inquired.

"I…he began to explain to me what was wrong with the first group we have, but I cut him off and did not let him finish his explanation," Kahn said, his voice getting lower as he finished his statement. Geng looked at him, a little perplexed. Kahn knew that he would feel the wrath of his uncle.

"I trust that you have a good reason for letting what could have been vital information slip through your fingers," Odsa said, trying to make himself look good in front of Geng. Kahn took notice of it. Only a pompous and arrogant ass would try to belittle someone the ways that Odsa normally did.

"Well nephew? Do you have a valid reason for why you failed to acquire that information from the Salarian?" Geng asked.

"I was impatient," Kahn said. "I became to eager to rush back to you with the information that I had received."

"And it has cost you nephew. You kept your eyes focused firmly on the prize at the end and not getting the mission done the way it needed to be. I am very disappointed in you," Geng said. "Do not let your youth get the best of you anymore." Kahn felt dejected, but kept his head up and his eyes firmly locked on his uncle.

"It will not happen again, I swear it," Kahn said, hoping that his uncle would find it in him to forgive him and continue to give him top assignments. Odsa and the other generals had looks of disappointment and disgust. Indeed he did let his youthfulness make him over eager but he got the main information for his uncle. He should have let that damn Salarian talk.

"So, ten Annihilators within a week," Geng said, pacing back and forth. "They will need to be tested, and tested in a way that will prove to me that the Salarians are doing their job correctly. But how to test my new soldiers?" Geng contemplated what would be the best course of action. He looked at his five generals and then to Kahn as he continued to pace back and forth. "Find me a world that is far from the influence of the council and their races. It may be best to use them on a Batarian world. Batarians are useless and a waste of space in the galaxy, but they would be a good formidable foe for our new Annihilators. We must locate and scout this world quickly, our new soldiers will be here soon and I want to make sure that they are ready for combat." Geng began to walk back towards the projector, and turned back to face his generals and Kahn. "The time of the Anahaus is coming. The galaxy will be ours to rule. No one, not even the great hero of humanity will be able to stop us. The galaxy will be ours…" His last sentence faded away, just as his image had began to. Kahn stood and watched the holographic image of his uncle disappear. Now was there time, and they would soon reveal themselves to the rest of the galaxy.


	5. Memories

-Sorry this chapter is a little short than I wanted it to be. But I was a little excited with getting the next one underway. I know I have forgotten to mention it repeatedly like most do, but BioWare owns all, of course. The next two chapters are an attempt to try and explain the events of Akuze. Feel free to comment-

**Memories**

Serenity. Peace. Two words that were not normally used to describe the atmosphere on the _Normandy_, at least since the beginning of the Eden Prime Wars. The ship and crew had been accustomed to going through hell and back, and coming out of it relatively unscathed. Saren, the Geth, Collectors, even a human reaper hybrid, had all met the same fate when they encountered the _Normandy_ and her crew. It was no wonder why she was considered to be the best ship in the Alliance fleet. It was looked up to even more so now with the upgrades and new technologies that were provided by Cerberus and the various crew members on the ship. The Thanix Cannon was one of the favorite amongst the crew. They had all fallen in love with it when it had ripped apart the Collector vessel they had faced.

Joker was one of the few crew members that was still up this late into the night, or what was considered to be night on the Citadel. He had forgotten to run through the ship's weekly checklist when he had hobbled away to Chora's Den with Jacob and Garrus earlier in the day. When he had returned, EDI was waiting for him like a wife who thought her husband was cheating on her. Joker was glad the AI had no 'eyes' and could only imagine what kind of look she would have been given him when he boarded the ship.

"Where have you been all day?" she had asked. Joker looked at her in astonishment. She had rarely, if ever inquired about his personal dealings or ever showed what could have been explained as a true simulation of human emotion. He caught himself when he realized she had saved his ass during their struggle with the Collectors, and had shown a small hint of compassion when she asked him how he was doing.

"I went to Chora's Den with Jacob and Garrus," he replied, sliding into the pilot's seat and getting himself comfy. "I was only…Wait, why the hell do I have to explain to you where I was? I am a grown man and I can do whatever it is I want to do."

"You are indeed a grown man Jeff, but you still have things here at the ship that need to be taken care of," EDI had came back with. "Weekly calibrations need to be done and you have been skipping items on your daily checklist. This would not please the Commander at all…if I tell him."

"Come on EDI, the Commander is too busy to be dealing with things up here in the cockpit. Besides, he likes me too much. We go way back. Before you showed up and tried to take over my cockpit," Joker said back to her.

"You may be right Mr. Moreau," she said, a hint of seriousness in her voice. "But these things need to be done to make sure the Normandy is going to be kept running properly." Joker sighed and began to run through the list of things that EDI had set aside for him to do.

That was a couple of hours ago and Joker was nearing the end of his 'chores' from his 'wife'. Never would he outwardly refer to her as such but they did seem to have an awkward type of relationship. One that was a little stressful at the beginning, but now that the two of them had time to bond and work together, and now it has budded into a semi-happy coexistence. Joker would do things to try and push EDI's buttons, and EDI would threaten to let Shepard know about some of the 'movies' that Jeff would sit and watch whenever Shepard was either off ship or when it was late at night. It would have normally embarrassed Joker if anyone else would have caught him with explicit material, but EDI was the only exception to that rule.

A pair of ensigns sat at their stations for their shift of monitoring the cameras that were placed on the outside of the ship. The ensigns had only been up for a couple of hours and would not to sleep until the middle of the day tomorrow. Even though they were docked at the Citadel and the Citadel had its own defenses, Shepard thought it would still be best to keep his crew members vigilant and aware of what was going on around them. Some call it paranoia on the part of Shepard, but he preferred to say that he was always ready for anything.

Garrus stood by the galaxy map with Legion, listening to the synthetic talk about the history of the Geth and some small details that Garrus never knew. The discussion quickly turned to the Geth and Quarian war and the near destruction of the Quarian race. Legion explained to Garrus the heretics and how he and Shepard, with the surprising help of Tali, rewrote the 'Old Machines', trying to get them to not be hostile towards organics any longer and rejoin what he referred to as 'normal' Geth. Garrus loved getting all of this information from Legion. He always saw the Geth as smart and sinister killing machines, but now he knew one that actually like the other galactic races. Legion swiftly shifted and asked about the First Contact War between humans and Turians.

It took Garrus a few moments but he was able to give Legion the best explanation he could concerning the war. He discussed the Rachni, how humans were the new kids on the block and wanted to have control of everything in front of them, and how some Turians just despised mankind. Shepard, Ashley Williams, Councilor Anderson, and the late Kaiden Alenko had changed his opinion on humans. Shepard was like a brother to him now.

The rest of the crew was either asleep or getting their quickly. They were not used to having so much free time as of late and sleep just seemed like a good thing to do. When they battled the Collectors they were used to being up for several hours, trying to figure out ways to upgrade the _Normandy_ or ways they could each individually help destroy the Collectors. Now they were getting the rest and relaxation they all rightfully deserved.

Commander Christian Shepard laid in his bed in the captain quarters, exhausted from his strenuous night with his bedmate and lover Miranda Lawson. The operative had fallen asleep beside of him, curled up in a small ball with her back to him. The commander laid on his back - only wearing a smile - with the blankets only covering up parts of his torso. It had only been a few days since the Council granted his reinstatement into the Alliance Military. The Alliance was also gracious enough to not demote him from the rank of Commander after his brief involvement with Cerberus, an enemy of the Alliance and the Council.

The smile soon faded away from the face of the Commander. He tossed in the bed a little bit. A scowl came across his face and sweat began to form on his brow. It was all happening to him again. He was reliving memories and moments of the past that he was certain he had forgotten. Everything inside of him screamed for him to wake up and end this hellish nightmare he was having but it was like he was in a mental stasis field. Shepard tried to force his eyes open but he was locked away, being forced to remember that dreadful day. That bloody, bloody day when he lost so many friends.

"No!" The Commander yelled aloud. He sat up in bed and looked around, finally realizing where he was at, the _Normandy_. Miranda shot up as well and grabbed the gun next to their bed. She pointed it towards the door and sat there for a moment, her knuckles beginning to turn white from her grip on the gun. She let out a sigh of relief when she realized that there was no one there. Miranda put the gun down and looked over at Shepard. He was sitting on the edge of the bed with his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. Miranda saw the sweat roll down his back. This was new, not from what they had been doing a few hours prior.

"Christian," she said softly, crawling across the bed close to him and gently putting her hands on his back. His body was tense and he was shivering a little bit. He obviously had a nightmare of some kind, but Miranda had no idea why he would have. Nightmares weren't something that he had ever told her that he had so she was surprised to have found this out.

"I am fine Miri," he said trying to shake himself back into a normal state. He rubbed his hands through his hair and to the back of his neck. Miranda pushed his hands away and rubbed his neck for him.

"Liar," she said softly. "And your not good at it. So just tell me the truth. What is wrong?" She moved a little closer to him, pressing herself right up against his back. Shepard could feel her heart beat. That helped calm him down and ease his tension slightly.

Shepard sighed and looked at the wall in front of him. "Akuze." He said in almost a whisper. "I was reliving that night on Akuze." A cold chill went up his spine as he thought about the horrors that he saw so many years ago. He found it a little amusing that he never had nightmares about Eden Prime, Saren, Geth or Collectors. Or even when the Collectors killed him. Sure he would sit and ponder those things but never once did he dream or have a nightmare about it. But this, this was something that had haunted him a long time. Fifty marines. _Fifty!_ How in the hell could he have allowed something like that to have happened.

"I know what happened on Akuze," Miranda said, shifting herself to sitting next to the Commander. She grabbed more of the sheets and pulled them up to cover up her exposed bosom. "You and a group of marines were attacked by a Thresher Maw. They all died and you were the only survivor. You forget that I know more about you than you think." She said, laying her head on his shoulder. The look on his face was cold and callous.

"Toombs," Shepard said. "Corporal Toombs was the other survivor from that night. He was kidnapped by Cerberus, and believed that it was them who put the Thresher Maw on the planet to begin with. He believed it with such gusto that it made me want to believe him. Right up until he died, he swore that Cerberus was the cause."

"I never read any reports or ever heard any mentioning of it," Miranda replied, lifting her head up. "Of course I wonder how much about the inner workings of Cerberus I don't know. You know as well as I do, that Cerberus is an extremist group that will go to whatever ends they deem necessary to get the results of whatever project they are working on. I was blind by their ambition for helping humanity progress. And I let them work my emotions due to their involvement with Orianna." She paused for a moment. "Why would they intentionally put such a deadly and dangerous creature like a Thresher Maw on Akuze?"

"Maybe they were wanting to compile research or evidence of some kind. You said it yourself that they would do damn near anything to get the responses and results they wanted." Shepard replied. He shook his head. He worked with a group that master minded the massacre of fifty marines. This only reaffirmed to him that leaving the organization was the right thing to do.

"Back up for a minute, who is Corporal Toombs?" she asked. "I don't remember reading anything about him in any of your files, nor do I remember anything about him in of Cerberus's files."

"Toombs was there with me when he encountered the Maw," Shepard began to explain. "Naturally I thought he was killed eight years ago when the incident happened, but before I fought Saren, I encountered him on Ontarom." Shepard sat there for a second and remembered how shocked he was when he saw Toombs standing there with the pistol in his hand.

"What happened Christian?" she asked. He took in a deep breath and started to explain it all to her. But in order for her to understand the meeting on Ontarom, she had to know everything that happened on Akuze. This single moment in his life helped shape who he was, and how he went about things for the next couple of years…


	6. Akuze and Toombs

-This is just how I thought maybe the events of Akuze would have gone down. And I am sorry the bottom section is so short. I used some of the dialogue from different parts of the Toombs incident. You will have to wait and see how it plays out. As always, enjoy. Please comment if you would like.  
PS-Bioware owns all.

**Akuze**

_Roughly Eight Years Ago_

Akuze. Shepard did not know much about this newly colonized planet until he and his unit were briefed a few days ago. The colony on the planet had mysteriously disappeared, and all contact had been lost with the team that had gone there to initiate the colonization. A pioneering team had been sent to the planet and then suddenly it seemed as if the entire team just vanished into thin air. The Alliance gave the marines the basic rundown of objectives and orders. Look for survivors if there are any at all, determine the cause for their disappearance, and find who or what caused it. Shepard had been with the Alliance for a few years now and this was one of the first real assignment. At the time Shepard was not a Commander yet. He had recently been promoted to 1st Lieutenant, and was one of the men in charge of the operation, behind Captain Irvine and Lt. Commander Hutchinson.

All in all, 50 marines were assigned to this. It seemed like a little much, but when Shepard analyzed it he realized they could use some firepower if they up against Batarians or any rouge Turians who still had hard feelings from the First Contact War. It was indeed a mystery, but Shepard knew he and the rest of his squad could figure out what had happened.

The _SSV Milan _swooped towards the planet, slowing down slightly after the jump from the Mass Relay. The pilot looked up at the captain of the ship.

"We are good captain," he said. "The jump through the relay was successful and we are closing in on Akuze. Twenty minutes until we reach where the colony should be captain."

"Damn good pilot," Captain Irvine replied. "I will relay that information to Lt. Commander Hutchinson. He and I will be heading down with our boys." The captain turned from the cockpit of the carrier, went down the aisle way where a group of ensigns and junior officers sat tirelessly and worked on their reassigned stations, and took the elevator down to the cargo hold where the troops would drop from. Captain Jamison Irvine was tall, he had salt and pepper hair and a stern look on his face. Jamison had fought during the First Contact War against the Turians back in 2157, 20 years ago when he was 22. Now he was the good age of 44, two children and a wife who wished he was back at home more often than he was. He lived on the Citadel and made sure that his children received the best education they could. The Captain wanted to be at home more as well, but he tended to put his job and the Alliance first.

Most of the time, all the contact he had with his wife was messages over the extranet and through the video messaging system that was integrated on most Alliance ships. It had even been months since he had even felt the warmth of his wife, and that was something that he sorely missed. But finding out why this new colony was wiped out took precedence.

Captain Irvine walked off of the elevator and into the open cargo hold and saw the marines and junior officers milling about, preparing for the mission. Five shuttles had been organized and were ready to carry the marines down to the planet. Each of them were equipped with the most up to date weapons and shielding that the Alliance could offer. They were prepped for this mission like they were going into a war zone. This was an unknown problem though, and it was better to be over prepared than to be under prepared.

He scanned the room and saw a few of the men that he had hand picked for this mission. 1st Lt. Shepard and Corporal Toombs. Two of the best young marines that he had seen in a long time. They both had a bright future ahead of them and most importantly, they had balls. Behind them he saw the man he was looking for, Lt. Comm. Kyle Hutchinson. Hutchinson was one of the best men that the captain had known. He was strong, and had nerves of steel. He was built like a mountain and was as strong as a damn Krogan. Irvine had fought next to him against the Turians, and remembered the way that Hutchinson fought. Every marine knew that there was a chance that they would be killed in the war, but Hutchinson threw caution to the wind and put his body on the line to ensure that humanity would survive.

Kyle had won many awards and medals from that war and gained the respect of many within the human community. Jamison made sure that he was permanently reassigned to serve with him on whatever mission or ship Jamison was serving on. The two had become very close friends and always looked out for each other on any mission they would go on.

The Captain crossed the floor of the cargo hold and was saluted by everyone he walked by. He approached Lt. Comm. Hutchinson and the man snapped off a salute of his own. Captain Irvine nodded, his own way of telling the man to stand at ease.

"Damn good," Captain Irvine said. He surveyed the hold and the final preparations were being made before the drop. It would be an easy drop for the five shuttles. Nothing that has not been done before by many of the Alliance ships. The only variable to this was they had no idea what it was they were going to find or encounter when they dropped down on Akuze.

"We got a good group of guys ready to drop down in the pits of an unknown hell with us Captain," the Lt. said, getting his assault rifle and attaching it to his armor. "Reports are still showing no life form readings on the planet. There has to be something that we are missing here. People just don't disappear over night."

"I got that same feeling, and I am sure that there may be more that even the Alliance doesn't know," Irvine replied. "If that is the case than it is almost like the blind leading the blind."

"And it sure as hell sucks to be led by a blind person sir," Hutchinson jokingly said. "I don't see us being here longer than we have to be sir."

The Captain nodded in agreement. "We will be camping over night so make sure that you prepare the men to sleep in shifts. I will make sure that we get picked up fairly early so we can get the hell back home. I need to see my wife." Hutchinson let out a small chuckle. Irvine knew it was because the Lt. Comm. was not married, and preferred to live a more frivolous and promiscuous lifestyle. The two liked to go back and forth, mocking the other for their decisions but they always made sure to not get out of line when they did.

"Are the boys ready?" the Captain asked, shifting the subject back to something more serious.

"They sure as shit are," Hutchinson said. "I briefed them, I tried to give a motivation speech, all that's left now is for their asses to get out there and do the damn thing." Hutchinson would tend to swear a lot more when his adrenaline began pumping before a mission or a fight. Irvine thought that maybe it was some sort of defense mechanism, or just a clever way of dealing with the immense amount of stress that was about to be thrust upon them. Whatever it was, it worked for him and helped turn him into a certified bad ass. Hutchinson picked up his shotgun and attached it to his hip. That same shotgun had been modified for years and had withstood Turian fire and the test of time. It was one of the reasons that both of them were able to survive the First Contact War.

"Well, get your men assembled by your shuttle. We should be dropping any minute now," Irvine said. Hutchinson snapped off a salute, turned, and walked over to the shuttle he had been assigned to. Irvine grabbed his weapons - a pistol and assault rifle - and made his way to the front shuttle. He liked being the first one in, and the last one out. That was the only true way to command a group of soldiers. They showed you their respect and in turn, would be willing to wait for you if they needed to.

Irvine climbed into the shuttle and sat in the front most seat, other than the driver's seat. The driver was a young woman, could not be any more than 20, maybe 21. She was pretty, but tried to sit in the chair and act like she was tough and not just another pretty face. All of the drivers had been briefed on how exactly this was going to happen. The large hatch would open and the pilot would press a button that made green lights in every shuttle turn on, signifying it was time to go.

After a few terrible moments of waiting the hatch final began to slowly open, revealing the bright blue skies of Akuze. The systems main star shown into the cargo hold and many of the crew members that were not in a shuttle were forced to shield their eyes from its rays. Slowly but surely, the door was finally opened all the way and a strong suction came from the outside and the crew grabbed on to anything that was bolted down into the floors or walls. A few stray papers and boxes were sucked out of the cargo hold and floated off down towards the planet.

The pilot's waited impatiently for the go ahead signal from the pilot of the ship, and it finally came. Each of the five shuttle's engines roared to life and their kinetic barriers kicked into life. The main drive cores and weapons systems were the next to come on and a marine from each manned the gun controls for each shuttle.

"Whenever you are ready pilot. You have the coordinates," Irvine said, looking at the pilot. She nodded and took a deep breath before initiating the controls to the shuttle and slowly creeping out of the cargo hold. She suppressed her nerves and gave the engines full power and the shuttle rocketed out of the _Milan_. Through the front windshield the terrain came into view. Akuze was beautiful, almost a paradise. Irvine saw a couple of mountain ranges and a river that flowed from the mountains and into a wide lake. The water was crystal clear and the system's sun pinged off of it. So far he could see no signs of any camps or any human looking huts, but then again the initial drop from the ship was very shaky.

With an almost perfect gracefulness, the pilot steadied the shuttle and punched in the coordinates of the pioneer's camp into the NAV computer and a blip came up on the radar. It looked like they were only about five minutes away from where everything had happened. And they had ample daylight to do any searching of the area around them before nightfall.

"Good we are pretty close," Irvine said. "Bring up the rear cameras. I want to make sure the rest of our boys made it out okay." The pilot punched a button and a small screen came up in front of Captain Irvine. All five shuttles had made the drop from the cargo hold successfully and were right behind them. Everything was starting off fairly well so far, but Irvine did not let that blind him. Things could always turn in an instant.

After a few moments of flying over the lush green world they finally flew over what was thought to be the remnants of the pioneer's camp. It looked like a ghost town, deserted and empty. There were some over turned crates and an assortment of things strewn about all over the ground. The closer the shuttle got to the campsite more and more details became clearer to Irvine. He saw a body laying out on the ground, or what was left of the body. Irvine was shocked at how mangled the body was. The torso and head were a couple of yards away from the legs. Dried blood and gore covered the ground beneath him and the marines intestines laid on the ground.

Not ten yards away from him was another body, this one mutilated as well. That is when Irvine finally saw the rest of the marines. They were all dead, most of them disfigured and ripped to shreds in ways that he did not think were possible. What in the hell could have done something like this to them? The shuttle set down on the outskirts of the camp along with the other five shuttles. All of the marines piled out and huddled around Captain Irvine and Lt. Comm. Hutchinson. They stood in the middle, whispering to each other about what to do.

They needed to investigate the camp, but how? Fifty marines all clustered together would be to big of a target. But splitting them all up could also be a bad idea. There had to be a good way to go about this, but as of now they weren't coming up with anything. Then finally Irvine decided.

"We are going to have to split up," he said. "Twenty-four with you, and twenty-four with me. You and your group will head east and look around the back of the camp. Do not got more than a few kliks away from the camp site. We will head west and circle back north. You have two hours. If anything happens at all then you need to let me know." Hutchinson nodded. They two of them split up the marines and began to head their separate directions.

Hutchinson and his men walked up to the camp and examined the grotesque sight that was before them. Human beings were slaughtered, mutilated, and burned. A lesser man would not have been able to have withstood the sight, but he had seen things before this that made him cringe as well. Their were a few questions that began to run through his mind when he looked at everything. What or who could have done this? Why did they or it do it? When did it happen? He hoped that they would be able to find these things out as they looked over the camp and the outlaying area. He turned and saw Captain Irvine and his group begin to move out to the west. He motioned for his troops to follow him and they went out away from the camp.

Shepard and Toombs stood on the outskirts of the camp with Captain Irvine's group of marines. They had been picked by him to go searching around the campsite, and so far they had turned up nothing. Only a few dead marines and a couple of carrion birds were all that they had found. There were no signs of gun shot wounds of any kind on the marines, but they did find what looked like acidic burn marks on one of the marines armor and what could have been claw marks on another.

"I don't understand," Toombs said. "Acidic burn residue and claw marks. It doesn't sound like anything I have ever heard of before."

"The universe is pretty damn big Toombs," who know what horrors lie in planets and systems we have yet to discover. This must have been one big mother…"

"Cut the damn chatter!" Irvine barked before Shepard could finish his statement. "Hutchinson and his men are back at the campsite, rounding up the bodies. Grab what is left of the bodies here and we will burn them before nightfall. The rest of you who don't grab a body, get your asses back to the shuttle and grab what we need to set up camp for the night. I want everything done right and I want it done right the first time. Move out marines." Some of the marines were quick to grab a body, and make sure that they weren't one of the ones who had to set up camp. After ten minutes, all of the bodies that they could find were piled up at the camp site and Hutchinson had found some kerosene inside of the campsite.

Irvine winced at having to do this, but it was the best thing he could think of. One of the marines dumped the kerosene on the pile of bodies and Hutchinson pulled out his families antique lighter. He shook his head as he approached the stack of human bodies.

"I sure as hell never thought I would be using it for this," he said, shaking his lighter. It was somewhat of a family heirloom that had been passed down through his family for many, many years. He opened up the top and ignited the flame. Slowly he leaned down and lit the kerosene.

In less than a second, the entire pile of bodies became engulfed in a small inferno. The flames reached high up towards the heavens, burning and destroying the bodies as it did. Shepard stared into the orange blaze and tries to make sense of everything. In his mind, nothing was adding up. What could have possibly caused this to all of these people, and the handful of marines that came here to help them colonize. It was an awful and gruesome sight, one that Shepard knew he would never forget. These people did not deserve what happened to them.

Later that evening, Shepard and Toombs were two of the marines selected to stay awake after having slept during one of the earlier shifts and now they got to watch over the rest of the marines. Akuze had one moon, one very large moon at that. They had brought a few lights and used some of the lights that had not been destroyed during the attacks, but the moonlight was almost sufficient in itself. The stars lit up and twinkled in the sky like a diamond mind, making for a beautiful and relaxing night.

Shepard sat on one side of the camp by himself while Toombs sat on the other. Every ten or fifteen minutes Shepard would flash a light in Toombs' general direction, and Toombs would flash one back at him, letting him know that he was still awake and not asleep. If either of them would happen to fall asleep, they would have to face the awful wrath of Captain Irvine. But if Toombs happened to have fallen asleep, Shepard would make sure not to tell on him unless he was caught. Then Shepard's hands would be tied at that point.

It had been a day of mixed emotions for everyone. With the shocking discovery of what remained of the pioneers, to the makeshift funeral they had for them. Quite the emotional roller coaster but Shepard felt that he had been able to handle it quite well. Yet, there was something still different to him. Something wasn't quite right and he could feel it in the air. The night was a little too quiet for his liking. It may have been a form of paranoia, but Shepard preferred to call it 'being prepared'. His pistol sat in his lap, and his assault rifle was collapsed on the ground next to him, and he was ready to reach down and grab it at a moment's notice.

One of the marines began to stir and sat up from the spot he laid at. He rubbed his eyes and let out a loud and annoying yawn as he got to his feet. Like most men do when they wake up, he grabbed himself and adjusted everything important to him. He looked over at Shepard and nodded. Shepard nodded back. The marine walked over some of the sleeping men and went to the side of the compound and after a few seconds, Shepard could hear the steady flow of urine hitting the wall. He shook his head and looked forward and at Toombs once more.

"What the hell? Toombs?" he whispered to himself. The marine was gone, and not sitting in his chair. Shepard got to his feet and looked around but could not find him. Maybe he had to go pee as well but if he did then he should have told Shepard that he was planning on leaving his post, and that was not something you just up and did. There had to be a very good reason why the corporal had left, but he had not been able to figure out why yet.

The other marine had stopped peeing and began to walk around the compound, trying to stretch himself out a little bit. _"Maybe he will find Toombs"_ Shepard thought to himself.

The night was quiet. The only sounds that could be heard was the whistling of the wind and shuffling of the marines as they laid on the ground. But then Shepard heard it. At first it was like a low rumbling sound that was muffled and sounded very far away. But it was enough to make him stand still and continue on listening intently. A full five minutes passed before he heard the sound again, but this time it sounded a little louder and closer to him. The marine walked over to him and stood next to him.

"What the hell was that?" he asked. Shepard quickly threw his hand up to stop the man from talking and looked around. He holstered his pistol and grabbed his assault rifle by his chair. He pressed a button and the gun opened up and he held it in his hands firmly. A scowl came across his face and this time the rumbling sound caused Shepard and the marine to be moved a little bit. The two looked at each other, both beginning to be terrified about what was possibly going on.

The next few seconds all happened too fast for Shepard to really comprehend them. Out from the ground it came, quicker than anything Shepard had seen that was that big. It was an array of different colors, blue mostly from what little of it Shepard saw. It had two praying mantis like claws coming out of the side of what could have been its head. The monster had a beak like a bird and tentacles coming out from its mouth. It burst from the ground with great quickness and speed and came right at Shepard and the other marine. It hissed and growled as it opened up its mouth, its blue tounge flailing around like another entity itself. Shepard rolled out of the way but the behemoth came crashing down and wrapped its tounge around the marine. The animal engulfed the marine as it slithered back into the ground. All of its 30 meter plus body burrowed deep into the ground and Shepard laid there, still in a small state of shock from what happened.

Captain Irvine shot up from where he was sleeping and looked around and saw Shepard on the ground. The captain grabbed his gun and darted toward Shepard. "What in holy shit is going on Shepard?" the man screamed as he helped Shepard off of the ground. Shepard looked at him with a glassy and far away look in his eyes. He did not know what to tell him, nor did he even feel like he had the strength to talk at all.

"Goddamn it Shepard talk to me!" Irvine said, slapping Shepard's face to try and bring back into a normal state of consciousness. Before Shepard could speak they heard the ground rumble again and the terrible cry of the monster. Irvine looked around and saw it shoot up out of the ground like a bat out of hell and 'stand' over the marines laying on the ground. Half of its body was still in the ground while the other half was above it, looking menacingly over the compound.

Shepard finally spoke, "Is this what killed all of the pioneers and colonists?" His body was frozen as the giant creature's body waved slightly back and forth, and its beady eyes examined the scene before it.

"Get up!" Irvine blasted. He fired a few rounds with his pistol at the beast, causing the rest of the marines to start to wake up and look around. They all grabbed their weapons and backed away from it as much as they could. It roared and reared its large head back, as if to get ready to unleash some sort of hell on the marines below.

"Fire at the damn thing!" Hutchinson yelled as he fired his shotgun at it, knowing that at the distance he was from it, minimal to no damage at all would be done. The creature lunged forward and spewed a green liquid towards them. It landed on the ground and contacted a couple of the marines, instantly burning through their armor and causing their flesh to be vaporized. Horrific and terrifying screams came from the marines who were hit. They fell to the ground and rolled around in excruciating pain. The titanic monster reared back once more and let out more of the green liquid, which Shepard was able to confirm in his mind as an acidic substance. Fortunately this time, it missed any and all of the marines and turned the ground into nothing but a black hole. It must have been angry with itself because it let out another roar and burrowed itself back under the ground.

"_Milan_ this is Irvine," he said, after he got his comm unit turned back on. "We need an emergency evac now! I repeat, we need emergency evac! We have encountered an unidentifiable hostile and it has attacked us. Pilot get that damn ship down here right now!" Irvine looked around to see if he could locate the creature. He finally saw the ground begin to move underneath some of the marines.

"Move!" Hutchinson roared. Those were the last words that he would ever speak. Dirt and earth flew into the air as the creature reappeared underneath him. He was jettisoned into the air and the creature caught him in its mouth. Hutchinson yelled a blood lust roar and fired his shotgun at the face of the animal, but it had no effect. It bit down and the cracking of his bones could be heard by all of the marines around him.

They all stopped in their tracks, too scared and horrified by what was going on to do anything. Hutchinson's body was limp in the monster's mouth, and his blood was oozing down to the ground. After a moment the marines finally began to fire back at it as it dropped Hutchinson's lifeless body. None of their firepower was able penetrate the thick exterior of what they were fighting. They all knew that they had to run or die fighting this…thing.

Shepard turned his head to Irvine and waited for the next set of orders. But Irvine was just as lost as the rest of the marines were.

"What are your orders Captain?" Shepard asked. Before he could speak the creature fired more of his acidic saliva out at the marines. One marine was completely drenched in the saliva and could be heard screaming as he was burned alive. The creature dove into the ground and popped back up seconds later in front of the marines who were running for their lives. They all fired their guns at it and tried to run the other way. It was then a second creature popped up from the ground and began to harass the marines. The creatures let out their awful and terrifying roars before both of them lunged forward and drug as many of the marines as they could down with them.

"Where the hell are you _Milan_?" Irvine screamed. "We are taking casualties and need to be picked up now!"

"We are moving towards you now sir, we have you in…" the pilot's voice seemed to trail off. "God help us." He said.

"Right now I need you to help us and get your ass down here!" Irvine said, running towards the ship. Shepard was right behind him.

"Negative sir. We cannot land with those, things there. You will need to get the shuttles back onto the ship. Those bastards look like they could do some damage to the ship," the pilot said.

"They are tearing apart my men right now! You will land that ship and pick us up. That is a damned order!" Irvine barked back at the pilot. He saw the _Milan_ begin to descend down on the planet's surface, a good distance away from the creatures and the marines.

"It is going to be a hell of a run sir," Shepard said. Irvine did not respond. He knew what was at risk and what was at stake. The rest of the surviving marines followed Shepard and Irvine towards the _Milan_. The creatures dove into the ground and came out numerous times, like a dolphin in an ocean back on Earth. They both broke from the ground and crossed each other as they landed on the group of marines, killing man of them just by using their body weight. Just as quickly as they went back into the ground, they shot right back up and used their blue tounge and sharp beak to pick off two or three of the marines. That's when Shepard finally saw Toombs, amongst the panicky marines.

"Toombs!" he yelled to him. Toombs looked over towards Shepard. In that moment Shepard saw the ground ripple underneath him and suck him into the ground. "Toombs no!" He yelled out. Irvine grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back towards the _Milan_. They were very close to the ship and Shepard could feel freedom. That freedom was short lived though. The ground began to ripple underneath of them and Shepard and Irvine both leaped forward to get to the ship. They both grabbed on and Shepard got into the ship first. Irvine reached out but the blue tounge of the creature wrapped around his body. Irvine struggled to hold on and grabbed onto Shepard's arm. Shepard pulled but was no match from the strength of the beast. Irvine looked at Shepard, with a look of dread in his face. Shepard looked down and saw the man's dog tags in his hands.

"No Captain!" Shepard yelled. Irvine grinned and let go of Shepard. The creature pulled him down into the ground with him. The _Milan_ lifted off of the ground and Shepard looked back down on the ground. Everyone else in his unit was down there dying or already dead. He should have been down there with them. Hutchinson, Toombs, Irvine. "_Damn it_." He thought to himself. What the hell were those things, and how in the hell was he going to be able to tell the Alliance about it? He hung his head and walked away from the door as it began to close up, leaving behind the blood and death…

**Toombs**

_Two Years Ago_

All of the mercs in front of them had been eliminated and all that was left was to find out who was behind the kidnapping of the scientists. Kaiden and Ashley stood next to Shepard as he prepared to enter the door. He could hear two men talking on the other side and it did not sound pleasant. The three looked at each other and made sure that their weapons were ready for whatever was about to happen. They got up to the door, opened it, and stormed in through the door.

A man, all of six feet tall stood with his pistol pointed at the face of a scientist. Than looked angry and cold, and the scientist looked as if he may have wet himself.

"Stay back!" The man said to Shepard and his team. "I have no grief with you. All I want is this bastard!" He took a step closer to the scientist and pinned the gun up against the man's chest. Shepard kept his gun on him and his finger ready to pull at a moment's notice. All day that had been fighting mercs, but there was something different about this man. Something that seemed almost familiar to Shepard.

"Please, he is a madman!" the scientist blasted. He was only going to make things worse for himself and harder on Shepard if he kept running his mouth. Nothing was worse than pissing off a man with a gun even more than he was already pissed off. "Mr. Toombs you're insane, you need help!"

"It's corporal!" the mercenary said. "Corporal Toombs. You don't get to lie, you don't…Shepard?" The man said. "My God, Shepard… Is that you?"

"Toombs? But you on Akuze! I saw the Thresher Maw pull you under," Shepard said. _"How in the hell did he survive that attack? I thought I was the only one to get out of their alive."_ Shepard stood there in amazement.

"They took me Shepard, the scientists," Toombs said.

"You cannot prove any of this! This man is delusional!" The scientist said, trying to beg for his life.

"See? They were running tests on the Thresher Maws," Toombs began. "They _let_ those things hit us just so they could watch and study. I woke up in a holding cell, the scientists were delighted that I have survived! Now they had someone to run tests on."

"Toombs, I-I didn't see anybody," Shepard said. Instantly all of the guilt and memories from that night began to return to him. He remembered watching Hutchinson get broken in half by the Maw. He could vividly remember the look on Irvine's face when he was pulled away form him and deep into the earth. Forty-eight marines died, and now the only two survivors stood facing each other. Ashley and Kaiden kept their guns pointed at Toombs. "If would have seen you I would have come back for you, I swear!"

"You can't believe Toombs!" the scientist said. Shepard was already getting tired of him making this delicate situation worse. "He doesn't have any proof! I demand a fair trial!"

"He was there, you bastard! He knows the truth!" Toombs cried out. He was feeling the same pain that Shepard had been feeling for six years now. They watched all of their brothers get mutilated and destroyed in a matter of moments. "They're part of some organization, Cerberus, that runs secret tests like this. They treated me like an animal! This man deserves to die, Shepard. For you, for me, for everyone else in the unit! Are you with me?" Shepard could see the pain in his eyes.

"Listen Toombs, I was there watching everyone get slaughtered just like you." Shepard said, trying to reason with him a little bit.

"No Shepard, you are not like me. I was treated like a lab rat. I was the one who was tortured for years while you were off exploring space! This is how I want to settle this…" Toombs pulled the trigger and the scientist fell to the floor, dead. Shepard hung his head. Once more he couldn't stop someone from dying.

"Toombs…" Shepard said.

"They had to die, you get it right?" Toombs said. "I had no choice. But its okay now. Now the scientists are just like our unit Shepard. No survivors…" Before Shepard could react or respond Toombs put his pistol to his head and pulled the trigger.

"No!" Shepard lunged forward to try and catch the body, but was a fraction of a second too late. Toombs' corpse fell to the floor, and his face that was full of rage just a few moments again looked peaceful, the way that Shepard had first met him six years ago. He stood above him and gave him a proper salute to honor what he had done for the Alliance. His friend deserved it…

Shepard sat there on his bed, a blind look on his face. Miranda rubbed his arm with her hand and leaned down and kissed his shoulder. She had read the reports about what had happened be she never knew any of the small details.

"I never knew about Toombs," she said. "That must have been something that Cerberus tried to purge, considering the situation. I am so sorry Shepard." She said. She now understood why saving lives was so important to him. Why he talked her into not shooting Niket. People that he had connections with seemed to die without him having any control over it. The men on Akuze, Toombs, even Kaiden Alenko. She had a much deeper appreciation for his actions during their run in at the Collector Base and his determination to keep everyone alive.

"Toombs was a damn good man and did not deserve what happened to him. He was a good soldier," Shepard said. "No one in that unit deserved it." The two sat there for a few moments, both thinking about different things. Collectors, Reapers, even death.

Shepard turned and kisses her lips and laid down on the bed and Miranda curled up next to him. Despite the journey that Shepard had taken, he was here now with Miranda. Six years have past since Akuze, and since then he has fought Geth, mercs, Collectors; everything that the universe had thrown at him he stopped. But two things did trouble him as he began to close his eyes and fall back to sleep. What was next? And lastly, how could he stop people from dying?


	7. Fortunes

-My conversations with Legion and Mordin are probably going to not be that great. Please bear with me. I will come back and redo thrm, but for now I will stick with it. BioWare owns…of course.

**A Tale of Fortune**

**Chance**

Dr. Daniel Abrams hurried around the clinic on Omega. He did everything he could to ensure that things were kept running the way that Dr. Solus would have wanted them to have been run. There was no other way. He did things with such expediency and effectiveness, that made any other way of running the clinic seem tame. The young Batarian male laid out on the table, coughing violently. Shepard and his team had helped to eliminate the plague, but there were still those who were infected. Luckily for Daniel, Mordin had left behind a good amount of the antidote to use on anyone else who may still be infected, like this young Batarian. His temperature had skyrocketed and his cough was getting progressively worse.

"_Poor kid_," Daniel thought to himself. He knew that he had to give him the antidote quickly or this kid would not live to see another day. The father of the boy had to be restrained out in the waiting area. It was hard for Daniel to not sympathize with him; he had no kids and had no idea how hard it was for a parent to watch his child suffer like this. Before they finally got him calmed down he had torn apart three Mechs and almost destroyed a fourth. The father had hurt himself in the process and Daniel promised to treat his wounds if he would just calm down.

Things had gotten crazier in the clinic since Mordin was whisked away by Commander Shepard a few weeks ago. He did not work with at the same speed that Dr. Solus was able to but he sure as hell tried too. Learning from the best meant that people generally expected the best out of you, and being a human was his downfall. The Salarian doctor was so much smarter than he was, but Daniel was determined to not let that be an excuse for him.

He checked the monitors that were hooked up to the boy and grabbed the needle that was filled with the antidote. "Alright buddy, this is going to make you better okay?" Daniel tried his best to comfort the boy but he knew the best thing for him to do was try and cure him and not be a psychologist. Daniel injected the needle into the IV line, and slowly pushed all of the contents of the syringe out. He turned his head back to the monitors and watched as his heightened heartbeat slowly began to drop back to a normal rate for Batarian children. The boy took in a deep breath and coughed once more. But this time the cough was more subdued than the others were. Daniel smiled and knew that he was on the road to recovery. In a few moments the parents would be allowed into the room and could take him home. It would take a few days but he would be able to make a full recovery.

All four of his eyes looked up to Daniel and blinked together. Daniel but a breathing mask on him just as a precautionary measure. Better to be safe than sorry. One of the many things that he had learned from Dr. Solus. One of the funnier things that Mordin used to tell him was 'if there is no pulse, the patient is dead'. Daniel would laugh every time Mordin reminded him of that, but it was merely because Mordin wanted to get Daniel into the habit of being thorough and always double checking results and patients. Efficiency and effectiveness. Mordin may not have been in the clinic anymore but Daniel did his damndest to make sure that he tried to live up to the doctors high standards.

Now the boy was breathing fine and not coughed for almost five minutes. Everything was going to be okay for him. He had stopped bleeding and his temperature had dropped significantly. Daniel walked over to one of the Mechs standing outside and protecting the door.

"Please bring this boys parents to me," he ordered. The Mechs acknowledged the command and walked back into the waiting room. A moment later they had returned with the Batarian couple. The mother instantly went over to her child and cupped his hands in hers and kissed it. She smiled the best smile a mother with a sick child could and looked up at Daniel and mouthed to him 'thank you'. He nodded and flashed her a half grin. There was the reason he wanted to do this. To be able to help families who need it and so they can resume living their normal lives.

"How long until he is at full strength?" the father asked. His raspy voice was much calmer than what it was an hour ago when he was destroying Daniel's security. Being a kind hearted person allowed Daniel the compassion and decency to be able to forgive him.

"That is up to him and his body," Daniel began. "I gave him the antidote for the plague and it hinges on how his body can react to it. With it already having taken such an effect on him already then it could be a few days, give or take. But he will make a complete recovery and be back too 100% soon. Now, on to your injuries." The Batarian held out his left arm; lacerations and burn marks started from his fingers and went all the way up to his shoulder. He had given the Mechs one hell of a beating and acted as if these were not the worse wounds he had ever had. Had those Mechs been set to kill and incapacitate, this man would have never seen his son again.

Daniel worked quickly to get the man patched up and his wounds dressed. He handed the man a bottle of pain killers to try and mitigate what pain he would feel for a couple days and the Batarian accepted with a grin and tilt of his head. Daniel imitated the head tilt, knowing it was something that the race did quite often.

"If there is anything else that you need me to do for your son, please bring him back. But like I said, he should be able to make a full recovery in a matter of days," Daniel walked them out and the young boy waved as the door shut behind them. He was a brave little guy that had quite the resilient immune system. He was tough too and Daniel guessed he must have gotten that from his father.

Daniel looked around at the rest of the clinic. No other patients as of right now. That meant that Shepard and his crew had done a good job in releasing the cure through the air vents. Some things were beginning to turn around here in the slums of Omega. Not many people cared much about the slums or the people living in it, but Dr. Solus saw the need and cared enough to want to make a change. Daniel had determined that he would try and finish out what Dr. Solus had started.

Daniel wiped his forehead of some sweat on it and went to the private terminal that used to belong to Dr. Solus. Like most days when he checked his mail there was tons of mail, most of it grateful patients and those who were asking for medical advice. There was one that stuck out to him though, but it was addressed to Dr. Solus and not him. It said it was from an unknown sender and was not able to reveal what planet or even the star system that it came from. Odd. Most messages that received by the clinic had where they came from. This was quite the anomaly and Daniel wanted to open it and read it. But it was addressed to Dr. Solus and not him. He remembered Shepard telling Mordin that they would be on a ship called the _Normandy_. It took Daniel a few moments but he was able to locate the ship and forwarded the message to Dr. Solus.

Still though, Daniel was a little perplexed at the privacy of the message. And most people who knew the doctor knew that he was no longer on Omega. He made sure to send out multiple messages to those who followed his work. It didn't matter though. Daniel's work was here and he was sure that whatever Mordin was doing was helping out a greater good for the galactic community. Maybe one day he would get to see the doctor again, and show him what good has happened here on Omega. He knew that Mordin would be proud…

**Fate**

Commander Christian Shepard was glad to have notched another win on his belt. Although this was not as important to the galaxy much like his victories over Sovereign and the Collectors was, this was more for personal pride. He sat down in the Mess Hall with Tali, Garrus, and Jacob. All four of the crew members looked at each other. At least the three gentlemen assumed that Tali was looking at them through her mask. Garrus shook his head and brought up his Omni-Tool and transferred credits from his personal account to Shepard's. The big Turian hated to lose and he hated losing to Shepard even more. Jacob and Tali followed suit and transferred credits as well. The great Commander had won yet again at Skyllian Five Poker, a game that he had learned very well over the years.

"Damn it Shepard," Garrus said. "You always find a way to win don't you." Shepard smiled and gathered up the playing cards. It was not normal for an Alliance ship to allow gambling on board. Then again there were a lot of regulations that the _Normandy_ was breaking. The most significant one was Shepard bunking with Miranda, but no one was about to report him, and why should they.

"I would apologize Garrus, but I don't want to say I am sorry and not mean it," Shepard said grinning. He remembered the day that he and Tali played with Ken and Gabby down in engineering. Shepard had won that day as well. Tali did a fine job not telling Jacob and Garrus about Shepard being good at poker, and he promised he a cut of the winnings if she could keep up the charade. Thus far it had worked to perfection. He did feel bad for her because the crew had always looked at Tali as a nice girl, almost with the 'girl-next-door' aura around her. Everyone loved her and enjoyer her company.

"You played a good game Shepard," Tali said. She stood up from the table and adjusted her suit. "I need to get back down to engineering. Ken and Gabby are planning on adjusting the couplings and they said they will need my help." She turned and left the mess hall and went back down to her normal station in engineering.

"Good kid," Garrus said. "She has a big heart and she is courageous. I am glad that you were able to get her back on the team Shepard."

"I agree," Jacob said. "The vids I saw of her that Cerberus provided were amazing. She has a great natural leadership ability about her. Something I wish I had. And like you said Garrus, she is courageous." Jacob took a drink of the beverage he had next to him, stood, and saluted Shepard. He left the mess hall as well and went up to the armory. The _Normandy_ was planning on getting a new shipment of weapons to be compared to the ones that had collected while they were fighting the Collectors. Garrus smiled and shook his head once more.

"That guy is too stiff for me," Garrus said. "He tries to make it look like he is a bad ass, but something tells me that he is a little soft underneath. Don't get me wrong Shepard. I saw him fight the Collectors and he held his own. But he tries too hard." The Turian stood and stretched and let out a yawn. "I better head back to the battery. We have cleaning and calibrating to do. Talk to you later Shepard." And with that Shepard was alone in the Mess Hall. Miranda was out on the Citadel meeting with Councilor Anderson, exchanging the files they had on the Akuze incident. She told Shepard that she would find anything and everything that Cerberus had on it and would take all of those things to the councilor. Maybe he would have a little bit of peace about it then. That was about an hour ago so he figured that she would be back later on.

Other than that, not much was happening for the crew of the _Normandy_. It had been very quiet since they returned from the Omega 4 Relay. Shepard felt too stagnate, he had to be doing something or out fighting against insurmountable odds. The thought and feeling of not doing anything made him feel too mundane. The rest was something that his mind and body needed, although he was not getting that much rest at night with Miranda.

He looked around and watched as some of his crew members walked around going back to the barracks, or getting some of the food that Chef Rupert had made them. One came out of the infirmary having been sick for a few days with the flu. Dr. Chakwas took fine care of the man. Shepard stood and walked through the infirmary and nodded at Chakwas on his way to the AI core where Legion stayed hooked in at. He and the Geth had been keeping track of the rewritten heretics and their acceptance back into the Geth society. After Shepard had activated Legion he had learned numerous things about the Geth. Most of what he and the rest of the galaxy thought were true ended up to be misnomers.

"Shepard Commander," Legions said as Christian walked into the AI core. Legion had been plugged into the _Normandy_ and using their long ranged scanners to detect where and how many Geth had tried to be reintegrated. He unplugged himself and turned to face Shepard. Their was still the hole in his body that Shepard had tried to get filled but Legion disinclined. He felt that it was a battle scar to remind him of what his race of people had to go through for man years.

"How are things out in the Perseus Veil," Shepard asked approaching Legion. It hadn't been that long ago that Shepard had considered to sell him for scrap parts back to Cerberus. But without Legion, Shepard doubted they would have been that successful against the Collectors.

"Reintegration takes time," Legion said. "We understand that this process will be long. We do not fear the heretics, we are apprehensive."

"It is a delicate situation, I am sure. But it seems like the Geth are pretty patient at times," Shepard said, folding his arms across his chest.

"We can be if the situation calls for us to be," Legion said. "We tried patience with the creators when they would not answer our concerns about our souls. It was unfortunate that war and bloodshed was the results of our relationship with the creators. We are happy to know that creator-Tali'Zorah has befriended us."

The last comment made Shepard chuckle. It must have been hard to be an inorganic on a ship full or organic life forms. But Legion must have been comfortable with the crew or he would not have called Tali his friend. But Legion continued to rattle on about the 'heretics'.

"We have not successfully located all of the 'heretics' that Shepard-Commander suggested we rewrite and welcome back into our community. We want to accept them as they want to be accepted. Would we Geth be wrong if we judged those who acted with Sovereign and the Reapers?" Legion had never been one for such deep conversations, other than the one time he asked about his soul and the souls of other Geth.

"That is up to the Geth," Shepard replied. "You have no control over what they do. Would the Quarians accept you after your war with them? Tali seems like she has."

"Creator-Tali'Zorah is different than the files we have on the creators," Legion said. "We accept the hate from other creators but creator-Tali'Zorah shows no signs of what we know as hate or contempt. All indications point to a form of what organics call friendship. Is it safe for us to think of creator-Tali'Zorah as a friend?" Shepard could not help but laugh at Legion. Not because Legion was trying to tell jokes or be intentionally funny, but because he was so different from any other Geth he had fought, and different from the rest of his crew. It was almost if Legion was a small child, eager to learn what this universe has in store for him. His…there…whoever it was, was desiring to learn more about organics so it would be able to fit in with the crew. It was nice to see something like this happening.

"Tali is not like the other Quarians, you're right. Since the two of you have been working together, she has been learning more about your people and now knows that not all Geth are evil and want to destroy organics."

"Destruction of organic life forms is not in our programming. We wish to learn about all species to acquire new knowledge. Acquiring knowledge improves our people and allows us to become more like the other organics."

"I suppose you could say that Legion. Since humanity has become part of the galactic community we have grown exponentially. It is amazing to note that we humans are the newest of all the Citadel races and yet we have become one of the most important in a matter of years."

"Shepard-Commander should be held responsible for that," Legion said respectfully.

Shepard shook his head, "No Legion. Many humans have died to try and preserve our rights and the rights of others in the galaxy. I am only one man. And while people may look up to one man, it is those in the background that really do all of the hard work. I would not be here if wasn't for the sacrifices of others." Shepard took a long pause. All he had known, or thought he had known, about Geth was being rebutted by Legion. Many believed them to be a hostile race, but Legion made him look at them differently ever since he was activated. Even scientists have said that Geth, before the Eden Prime War, would tend to keep to themselves and not want to be concerned with galactic affairs. Yet Legion was wanting to be more than a spectator in the galaxy. Legion wanted to learn and grow and know more about the universe he lived in. This made him truly one of a kind find. He was different.

Legion even had personal memories that he continually shared with Shepard. Eagerly shared at times. As a human Shepard could not have imagined wanting to relive memories that were painful or opened up old wounds. But that allowed Shepard to be able to trust Legion. The Geth viewed themselves, not as a single unit, but as one large unit that shares and cooperates and furthers themselves independently. Being so open with their own race and the race of others, gave them no time or reason to lie at all.

Legion was unique to say the least -

"Commander, Yeoman Chambers has informed me that you have received a very peculiar message at your private terminal," EDI chimed in, unannounced. He blue avatar popped up at a terminal down in her core. "She requests that you be available to look at it right away."

"I am on my way up EDI," Shepard said. She disappeared and Shepard turned back to Legion. "We will continue this another time Legion."

"Yes Shepard-Commander," Legion said back. And with that Shepard left the Geth to himself.

Shepard crossed through the Med-Bay as Dr. Chakwas was working on the normal paperwork that was assigned to her. He rode the elevator up to the CIC and once the doors opened up, he saw Miranda and Kelly huddled over his private terminal. He approached them and they split apart as he leaned down to read the message.

To: _Normandy_

From: Abrams, Dr. Daniel

Shepard,

I received a very secure and very encrypted message a few moments from someone whose name I do not recognize. The message was actually sent to Dr. Solus and I was unsure of what to do. So the most logical thing in my mind was to forward the message to you and have Dr. Solus read it himself. Thank you Shepard.

Dr. Abrams

"Bring Mordin in here," Shepard said looking over to Miranda. She nodded and hurried over to the tech lab. Surely most of the people who knew Dr. Solus and most of his former colleagues knew that he was with Shepard, or at least knew that he was somewhere and not on Omega. Within a minute, possibly even thirty some seconds, Miranda had brought Mordin into the CIC and they began to read over the message.

Dr. Mordin Solus,

My name is Dr. Corson. You may have heard of me through my research that was conducted a few years back in regards to gene manipulation and cloning. I am considered to be one of the top minds in terms of DNA research and using DNA to create new life. With that being said, I am held captive somewhere in the galaxy. I do not know where I am at, due to having only been in a cell and a laboratory for nearly five years. I was captured by an animalistic race known as the Anahaus. They are giant and deadly creatures that crave nothing more than bloodshed and power. Many have not hear of them, they tend to be a reclusive peoples. They stormed into my home one night and killed my family years ago. They took me captive to help them breed an army.

I do not have much time, because I would love to send you more information and data on the subjects and what kind of race we are held here by but sadly I cannot. All I can hope is that this message can be traced back here to my whereabouts and that you will be able to find someone to come and help me and the other Salarian doctors here. If we are not helped then a new army will be unleashed upon the galaxy, one that could rival the Krogans in terms of shear strength and power. I do hope that you receive this message in time.

Dr. Corson

Kelly looked a little in concerned by what she had read. Shepard and Miranda quickly became cool and cold faced, not wanting to be read by the other two with them. Mordin just stood there, one hand folded, the other resting on his arm and hand under his chin rubbing it. He was deep in thought and Shepard did not want to distract him until the fast thinker had all of his thoughts collected. The uncertainty of it all was the worst part. This could be a fake message, or it could truly be a genuine cry for help from someone who was in trouble. But of course there was no real way to know unless they went and checked it out for themselves. But where did it come from? And what were the Anahaus? The name did not ring a bell to him. He prided himself in his knowledge of the species in and out of Citadel space but this was different.

"Ahh yes Dr. Corson," Mordin said, breaking the silence his usual fast paced speech. "Studied genetics. Good doctor. Top of the proverbial food chain in terms of research. I studied many of his documents and much of his data. Very thorough that one." Mordin nodded and kept rubbing his chin. "Sad to hear about his family. Lovely wife, or so I've heard. Held captive by Anahaus."

"So you have heard of him," said Miranda as she leaned against the terminal. She cocked her head to the right as Mordin kept talking.

"The doctor studied cloning for many, many years," Mordin continued. "Gene therapy is where he began but switched when cloning market began to boom. He is quick and precise, the way someone who works with cells and DNA should be. Brilliant doctor. Personal idol if I may say so."

"The message said something about breeding an army though," Miranda said.

"Cloning is a very effective way of amassing a giant army," Mordin replied. "Quick results. No waiting. Also heard of rapid growth hormones. Could be deadly to fetus if not monitored properly or given at the wrong time."

"Have you ever heard about these Anahaus people?" Shepard asked, finally saying something.

"They are a strong race. Brutish. Enjoys fighting almost as much as you," Mordin said with a small smile trying to make a joke. "Predominately male species. Cloning makes sense if they are trying to build a massive army. Not a smart species though. I am surprised they have been able to master the intricate process known as cloning."

"That could explain why they have captured Dr. Corson and other Salarians," Miranda chimed in. "Salarians are brilliant but can sometimes be easily manipulated if they are afraid or intimidated. If they were all treated like Dr. Corson and had their families killed then that could explain their participation."

"Working with DNA and having gun pointed to head, not good work environment," Mordin said. Again, another failed attempt at a joke, but this one did make Shepard laugh inside. "Would make sense for Anahaus to use Salarians. Smarter. Smaller hands that are a lot steadier. Makes it easier for us to manipulate DNA and work with cells. Quite a remarkable process actually, cloning that is. I saw vids of Dr. Corson working on DNA and genes. He cloned a baby Hanar in less then half an hour. Very smart man. Of course Hanar are not complex species. Not like a human or Asari." Mordin began to pace back and forth in the CIC. Shepard began to say something but Miranda stopped him. She was interested. "Most humanoid are hard to clone. Much more now with Biotic powers and Element Zero radiation being factors. Not impossible, just not always easy. Not sure about your cloned sister Miss Lawson. Vague details.

"Dr. Corson has found ways to expedite the growth process for many species. For a human of course it takes roughly 18 to 25 years to mature. Corson could cut time in half. Quite spectacular. Marvelous. That would give another reason for his capture. Background knowledge in cloning. Growth hormones. Army." He paused and took a much needed breath. "Finding him should be a priority. Answering questions to why he was captured secondary."

Finding where the message came from exactly would be the hard part. It was a very secure message, unlike any he had seen in a long time. The most recent secured messages that Shepard had received were the ones from The Illusive Man. But these were a lot different.

"EDI find a way to track where this message came from," Shepard said looking up to the ceiling almost on instinct. He knew EDI was not right 'above' him, but it was a good way for him to differentiate between talking to crew members and the AI. "Once you find out where it was at give Joker the coordinates. That is going to be our next destination."

EDI's 'mind' began to wrap itself around the message, trying to decipher every line of encrypted code that was keeping the _Normandy's _computers from tracing it. EDI became almost like a disease of sorts and ate away constantly at what blocks had been put into place by the sender. Random segments of code began to pop up in front of EDI. Curious. She liked to think that she knew a great deal about some things but this was indeed peculiar. None of it seemed to make sense, it would just randomly pop up in front of her as she was trying to gnaw away at the encryption. She knew that it couldn't be an actual firewall because as the _Normandy's_ line of hardware defense, she was the firewall. Anything that was foreign to the system immediately was re flagged and she took care of it.

This was quite the anomaly though, the message that is. EDI started noticing a pattern in it though. Like most firewalls it was blocking her, but unlike firewalls, it was redirecting her to somewhere else. Maybe it wasn't trying to keep her out, just trying to help her get to where she needed to be. That was indeed something new. She was being told where to go and what to do. Whomever sent the message wanted them to find out who they were, but had to make it look like the message was encrypted just in case it didn't get sent out completely or if it went to the wrong person. EDI chuckled to herself and continued to follow where the firewall was sending her.

Whoever created this system was so damn brilliant. Of course the firewall wasn't half as smart as she was, but it did act as if it had a mind of its own. Could have just been clever programming but still. Technology was moving forward exponentially fast. In a few years even she could be considered obsolete if they were to come out with a new and better AI.

Finally she made it to where she wanted to be, the epicenter of the message. It had only been about a second since Shepard asked her to find out the originating coordinates of the message. She was slipping a little bit, but was determined to get the information to Joker quickly. Getting to her destination was the hard part, but getting it all out was easy. She was able to extract the vital information that Shepard had needed and learned a few things for herself. A total of three seconds had passed since Shepard had ordered her to get the coordinates. Good timing.

The coordinates popped up on a screen in front of Joker. He cracked a smile and began to plot the points before he let Shepard know.

"We have the coordinates Commander," Joker said over the ship wide comms. "That's my girl EDI." Joker gave an 'air high five' to EDI's blue avatar. "So what next Commander?"

"Anderson," Shepard said.


	8. Recon and Rescue

**Recon and Rescue**

Commander Christian Shepard stood outside of the airlock that led from the _Normandy_ to the docking bay that his ship was docked at. His arms were folded across his chest and he was pacing back and forth, waiting impatiently on Councilor Anderson. Being impatient was one of his flaws and something that he knew he had to work on. Miranda would always tell him that 'patience is a virtue'. Most of the times she would say that was when she was trying her best to tease him or build up suspense that would lead to a climactic ending. There was the few occasions where he would be waiting for a video call or a message and she would stand behind him and whisper quietly that patience was a virtue.

But not right now. This was something that was pressing on Shepard's mind and he needed to get the hell off of the Citadel and get to this planet named Calypso. It was a Batarian world that EDI could find little detail on which was surprising to Shepard. She normally could do damn near anything that he asked her to do but it was almost like someone was wanting them to not find anything about it. One place EDI had reported that she looked at had said that the planet did not even exist. It was only a black hole in space where the existence of a planet used to be. Curious.

"_Damn it Anderson_," Shepard thought to himself. The bastard needed to hurry up and see him so he and his crew could find this Dr. Corson. Mordin spoke very highly of him and said that he was someone that was looked up to in the Salarian community. If Shepard could head to this planet and be able to bring him back then that would give not only him, but humanity a little more sympathy from a Council race. That could ultimately go a long way in trying to help promote their species.

The elevator opened up and Councilor Anderson walked out onto the catwalk and stood in front of Shepard. The commander nodded and cracked a half smile at the councilor.

"I guess being late is better than not showing up at all isn't it Councilor," Shepard said, trying to joke with the Councilor. It normally would have worked but he could see the concern and worry across his face.

"Shepard I am going to be frank with you," he started off. The two walked across the catwalk and stood at the end of it, looking out over one of the five arms of the Citadel. It was such an amazing construct that Shepard could not help but be in awe every time he was there on it.

"Since when have we ever not been frank with one another Councilor," Shepard said. It was true though. They had never had a 'normal' meeting with each other. Most of their meetings where concerning Spectre status, Geth, wars, and the occasional reprimanding from the Council. But there was something a little different about the Councilor today. He was much more serious than other times and he was not in the mood to mess around today.

"I do not like what it is you are doing by going out and searching for a man that has not been seen in years," Anderson said. "I looked up reports from the doctor on your ship. The Corson family was murdered years ago and the doctor was nowhere to be found, making him a prime suspect of course. The local authorities assumed that either he was off world or went and committed suicide due to the guilt of his actions. But now you are telling me that he is sending messages to your crew members about a race that is cloning themselves to make an army. We have had some pretty farfetched assignments Shepard…"

"Which is why this makes so much sense Anderson," Shepard interjected. "We are the only ones who know that the Reapers were behind the attack on the Citadel and the colonies disappearing. No one else believed us and damn it we proved them all wrong. After all of that now you are telling me that this seems a little farfetched?"

"Listen Shepard," Anderson said after sighing. "You have to remember that now I am now on the Council and not just a part of the Alliance military. I answer to people that ultimately could revoke your Spectre status and our embassy on the Citadel. That also means that most of the information you send to my office or tell me on a video call will be monitored and must be shared with the other Councilors."

"So they sent you here because they know that I trust you and not them," Shepard said shaking his head.

"They sent me here because they want someone who can get you to listen to reason. You have been on wild goose chases before and we have come out on the good side of them. But now it seems like there may not be something here to find at the end of the trail. I trust your judgment Shepard but I am having a hard time believing that this Dr. Corson is still alive. On top of that, is there really an army that is being created by the use of cloning?"

"One of my crew members believes what it is that he saying. Since he is part of my crew and helped me defeat the Collectors, I believe and trust his judge of character. If I trust him, so should you Councilor."

Anderson shook his head, "He may know of this Salarian but the odds of him being alive are not in your favor."

"When has that ever stopped me Anderson?" Shepard's voice rose a little bit and echoed lightly throughout the docking bay. Some of the workers who were loading supplies onto the _Normandy_ looked over at them but then went right back to working. Anderson and Shepard both stood their ground, not wanting to be intimidated by the other.

"You have beaten the odds before but you must remain conscious of the political implications that this could cause," Anderson said. "This planet that you are going to is a Batarian world, was a Batarian world, whatever. The fact remains that it is not in Citadel space or Alliance space. If it is Batarian then hostilities with them could re open. And if it is another species that we know nothing about then who knows what could happen."

"I do not plan on starting some kind of war Councilor. As far as I am concerned, this is a recon/rescue mission. We are going to reach the planet and find out if these Salarian doctors are indeed there and if they are then we will go in and extract them."

"And what about guards and casualties?" Anderson asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No on the _Normandy_ will be hurt," smiled Shepard knowing exactly what it was that Anderson was asking him. The Councilor shook his head and turned back to the view beside of them. "My crew and I will limit the casualties if we feel like we need to enter into wherever these men are being held. But I cannot make promises Councilor." Anderson nodded and kept looking out over the view. Shepard could sense that something was bothering him but he did not want to press the issue. Anderson would tell him if he felt it was a necessity. There were certain limits to their friendship that were put into place but never stated, and this was one of them.

"I miss going out and fighting Shepard," Anderson said. They had a discussion like this before when Shepard asked Anderson to come out and have help out with the Collectors. Back then Anderson said his place was behind a desk. Shepard had picked Anderson because he stood behind Shepard the whole time during the investigation of Saren and the Eden Prime War. There was a loyalty to Anderson that Shepard felt he needed to repay.

"You told me that you needed to stay here and fight on this front," Shepard said, leaning against one of the rails.

"And I still believe that Shepard. My place is indeed here at the Citadel. You have helped myself and humanity get on a platform that we never thought would be imaginable," Anderson said. "But there is still something about heading out and holding a gun in my hands and gunning down someone in front of me. I miss the thrill of not knowing what lies behind the corner Shepard. This life is too still for me." He sighed once more. "I guess you could say I am a little jealous. You are still at the age where you can go and kick ass. I am at the age where I am sitting on my ass. But I know that this is my arena and yours is out there amongst the stars." He took in a deep breath and let it out and stared out at the rest of the Citadel.

"If you ever want to come with me Councilor," Shepard said. Anderson turned and nodded, not letting Shepard finish. They both knew what Shepard was going to say and what Anderson's answer would have been. Shepard extended his hand and Anderson shook it. There was a great deal of not only professional respect, but respect as men and soldiers. They both have helped humanity in many great ways and both have faced off against impossible odds and come out on top. Now they both had two different fronts to fight on and pursue the advancement of humanity.

"You take care Shepard," Anderson said. "I do hope that you are right and there is someone there worth saving. Just make sure you keep your eyes and ears open. I don't think the galaxy could ever afford to lose you again."

"I hadn't planned on going anywhere soon Councilor," Shepard grinned and walked back down the catwalk. Anderson watched as he disappeared into the airlock that was attached to the _Normandy_. A hissing sound was followed by the shutting of the _Normandy's _airlock. Anderson stood with his hands clasped behind his back. Standing like that was almost second nature to him from his time in the military. The airlock began to slowly retract from the _Normandy_ and pull back towards the catwalk. The large arms released their grip on the vessel, allowing it use its Mass Effect fields and hover in space on its own. Joke was a damn good pilot and Anderson knew the Alliance's most prized ship was in good and capable hands.

Joker backed the ship up and maneuvered it around the docking bay with effortless ease. Anderson turned his body in the direction the _Normandy _was going. It had taken some time to set in with him, but he had his own battles to fight and so did Shepard. The commander would take his crew and search for these captured Salarians. He was confident that they would find what they were looking for, the commander always did. If he had his mind set on getting a job done, the Commander always made sure it was done and done the right way.

Once the _Normandy_ got completely turned around it raced off into space until Anderson could no longer see it. It was quiet. So quiet that Anderson could hear the faint sounds of the Rapid Transits zooming about and taking their passengers to their specified destinations. This had become his life and he was okay with that. Anderson was going to fight battles that Shepard could not possibly fight. The corporate battles.

**Planning**

Traveling through the Mass Relays was something that still astonished Commander Shepard, no matter how many times he did it. It was almost like he could be in two places at one time with the instantaneous movement from one point of space to the next. Humans and the other races in the galaxy had tried for years to recreate what the Protheans had made but so far all of their efforts had seemed to be very futile. Not being able to recreate what the Protheans had done was a huge disappointment for humanity, despite all of the leaps and bounds they had made.

When they became part of the galactic community they had encountered many different races that brought their own ideas and unique ways of life to the table. The Asari brought diplomacy and a sense of beauty, the Turians brought their knowledge of galactic warfare, Salarians were smart, and Krogans were brutes. Quarians, the Volus, Batarians, they all brought something different that helped make the galaxy and a great and diverse place.

Now they were about to come in contact with a race that Shepard had never heard of before. The Anahaus. Mordin had sat down and talked with Shepard about them in more detail. They had radical ideas but were very secluded from the rest of the galaxy, until recently it looked like. Most of the people in the galactic community did not know that these creatures even existed, let alone knowing that they were cloning themselves to create an army the size of which had never been seen. An army that could ultimately rival the Krogans in terms of pure strength and that could rival the Turians in terms of size.

But one thing that Shepard knew humans had to their advantage was their determination and desire. It had been known for many, many years that humanity had this uncanny ability to outlast anyone they had gone to battle with. Humans had a will and desire that was envied by many other races in the galaxy. That is one of the reasons that they were able to hold out so long in the First Contact War; that and the Council demanded that the Turians call a truce with them.

Shepard stood in his cabin getting himself ready to drop down in on the planet. His gun metal colored armor felt good to have on once more. He took the visor that he had bought back on Omega and put it on his head. With a click of a button it turned on and a small blue screen popped up in front of his right eye. He was able to see his ammo count and his shield status all on the small screen. He wanted to have it modified to where he could see some of his messages from the ship but he never got around to it.

He strapped his pistol, assault rifle, shotgun, sniper rifle and the Collector Particle Beam that he had collected, all to their spots on his armor. In the back of his mind he was telling himself that it seemed ridiculous to be taking so many weapons. But it was a case of he'd whether have them and not need them, than need them and not have them. He gave his armor one more look over. Everything was in its place. He was ready to take the shuttle down to the planet and find out if these scientists were even there. Shepard left his cabin and rode the elevator down to the CIC. Miranda was already working with Jacob and Garrus, trying to assemble everything they needed for the mission.

The rest of the crew was down in conference room waiting on Shepard to come down and analyze the pictures that EDI had taken of the planet. She told Shepard that there was something interesting about the pictures, something that she had never seen before. Hearing this news intrigued and excited Shepard all at the same time.

The elevator stopped at the CIC and Shepard walked out of it. He must have been an intimidating sight for all of the ensigns and other workers on the _Normandy_. The great Commander Shepard stood in front of them, in all of his armor and weaponry. He laughed a little inside when he saw a couple of the ensigns whisper things to one another, more than likely about him. Kelly turned and looked at him. She always had a thing for the Commander and always made sure to flirt with him every chance she had. The Commander stopped the flirting once he and Miranda officially became an item.

He turned and went into the armory just in time to see Garrus, Jacob, and his love Miranda finishing their tally of the weapons.

Jacob snapped off a salute. "Everything is accounted for and ready Commander." Shepard nodded and Jacob stood 'at ease'.

"The shuttle is ready also Shepard.," Garrus said. "While we were on the Citadel I was able to upgrade the armor capabilities of it. We will be able to take some damage if this were to head south. Chances are we wouldn't need it though."

"Everyone is waiting for you in the conference room Commander," Miranda said. "EDI has a small presentation for us." She smile and walked through the door first. Shepard followed her with Jacob and Garrus trailing him. They all four entered into the room and a host of heads turned to watch them walk into the room. Shepard walked around to the other side of the table and Miranda stood next to him. Everyone looked over at him and waited for EDI to begin her presentation.

The lights dimmed down a little bit, and a low hum began to reverberate around the room. The lights in the middle conference table came on and a holographic image of Calypso popped up in front of everyone. It was turning slowly, and everyone could make out all of the different aspects of the planet. There were numerous mountain ranges all across the planet. It only had one large body of water, but it looked almost as if it made up nearly 45% of the planets surface. Very few lakes could be made out but there were numerous rivers and small streams that flowed from the mountains and almost seemed to whither away the farther they got from the mountains.

"From the searches I have ran in Cerberus and Alliance databases, I have been able to find that the planet is an oxygen rich planet," EDI began. "So none of you should have a problem being able to breath once we get there. Surprisingly, Cerberus databases had an abundance more information about the planet than the Alliance. It is quite possible that someone had come through and deleted certain facts and information about Calypso. It is full of mountain ranges as you can see. But there is something of interest that should be noted about these mountains Commander.

"There is a small mountain range that is actually hollowed out and encases some sort of facility. Inside of the mountain seems to be some facilities inside of the mountain ranges. I have not been able to determine what they are but they seemed to be located deep within the mountains. Thousands of rooms are in these mountains, and heat signatures are off the charts. However, in one of the mountains there seems to be just one level of rooms. In the back there is one large room that is the epicenter of the mountain.

"Each mountain has tunnels that act as walkways and connects each of the separate mountains. Unfortunately they are glass and would be able to see someone approaching if they got close enough. That would mean that any oncoming vehicle would need to stay out of sight of these particular mountains and approach them from a carefully planned out position," EDI finished up and the conference room fell silent.

Shepard examined the layout of the planet as it slowly turned, much like it would in orbit. A thousand thoughts and scenarios played out in his head giving me one hell of a headache. After a few moments everyone seemed to be staring at him, as if to be waiting for his next move. This was one of the rare moments in his life that he was at a loss for words. It took him a few moments before he finally began to conjure up a plan in his head.

"Here is the plan I have so far," Shepard said. He reaches out a little bit and spun the holographic image of Calypso. He located the mountain ranges that EDI was talking about and made the spherical picture flat to where the Mountains could be the only things seen by he and his crew. He moved it a little bit more so that they could see the mountains off in the distance, and a small open area was in front of them. "We need to drop down with the _Normandy_ here." He pointed out and a green marker popped up on the map. "That is one of the risks we are taking though. Since we have to touch down on the planet we will have to disable the _Normandy's_ Mass Effect fields and Kinetic Barriers. That is where Legion and Garrus will come into play. The two of you will set up in strategic positions away from the ship and keep an eye on it with your Sniper Rifles.

"Jack and Samara will stay inside of the ship and use their biotic powers if they need to just incase Legion and Garrus miss someone, which they won't." Legion and Garrus nodded. "Joker and EDI will watch the long ranged scanners with their lives, and keep updating Garrus and Legion if they see anything approaching from the distance. Tali, Thane, and Grunt will be the infiltration team. Grunt is there to be your back up and muscle just incase you two run into any trouble. I want to know everything you see inside of there. Take pictures and scans if time allows. You will have 20 minutes to get us a door open. That is when myself, Miranda, and Jacob will…"

"Pardon Commander," Mordin said interjecting. "You have given roles to others. Have left me out."

"You may get too emotionally attached to the mission if there are indeed any Salarian's being locked up as slaves," Shepard said looking at him. He could already see the disappointment in his eyes, but Shepard believed that he was making the right call. "I need you to be here at the ship waiting."

"No," Mordin said defiantly. He folded his arms across his chest and stared down the Commander. "My people are in trouble. Need someone who knows Salarians and culture. They will react better to someone they know." He had made a damn good compelling point. Shepard may have been given the title of the 'Savior of Humanity', but Mordin knew Salarian where as Shepard did not.

"Fine Mordin," Shepard said. "New plan. Garrus and Legion will provide over watch for the _Normandy_. Miranda, Mordin, and I will scope out the base. Tali and Thane will still be used as the infiltration team, minus Grunt. I believe that the two of you can be quick enough to evade any and all problems that you may encounter. You need to knock out any and all communication buoys and relays you find. If they have any sort of camera system then take them out as well. I do not want them to know that we were ever there. Everyone else will be used as a distraction team. Jacob, you take of the lead in that group. If anything goes wrong you get the hell out of there." Jacob snapped off another hardy salute. Whatever made the man ready to kick some ass was good enough for Shepard.

"We will still only have a 20 or 30 minute window to work with here people. I want to make sure that we are efficient and effective in everything we do. I have no idea what we are going to find in there, so be prepared for anything. We are hear for Dr. Corson. If there are any other Salarians that are able to move and follow us then recruit them at your own discretion. I do not want any unneeded weight to slow us down. If the messages are true then we will inform the Council and a proper rescue mission will take place. Let's raise hell people." Shepard looked back down at the images in front of him of Calypso. It looked like such a peaceful and quaint planet to try and start a colony on for any species. Yet if the messages from Dr. Corson was correct then it was all a façade. The mountainous planet was nothing more than a hell for the Salarian doctors there, if there were any.


	9. Contact

**Contact**

There was not much room in the air vents, but Thane and Tali were able to wiggle and squirm their way around. Thane went in first with Tali following in right behind him. They had been crawling for a full 10 minutes and had passed through many vents but had yet to see anything that resembled a security office. Frustration was beginning to settle in on Thane. The heat from the vents did not bother him though.

Getting into the facilities was the easy part. They were able to find a way in through one of the many air vents that were placed on the side of one of the mountains. Thane and Tali were able easily maneuver their way up the labyrinth of ducts and air vents. The only problem now was not knowing where to go. Turning around would not be an option for them, because there was not enough room for even their smaller bodies to do a complete 360 degree turn. This made it very frustrating on them, and they felt like they were getting nowhere fast.

Thane stopped and removed one of the vents from the duct and poked his head down and looked around the best he could. There was just a long hallway below him with two rooms on either side of the hallway. He could not see any signs that would help him find out where he was. Then he heard something. He stopped and listen intently for a moment and heard two pairs of feet walking down the hallway. Thane shot his head back up into the vent and kept his eyes fixed on the hallway.

Tali poked his foot and Thane held up his hand and motioned for her to keep quiet. Almost a minute later two giant beasts came into his view. Each of them was covered in fur and had long snouts that were the home to razor sharp teeth. Both of them were muscular and built like two Krogans put together. They were an amazing sight to see, but Thane was also a little frightened by them as well. Mordin had briefed them all on what the Anahaus could do if they got their big claws on you, and Thane was not about to let that happen.

He ran his eyes over each of them carefully and did not see any type of Kinetic Barriers on them. That meant that a few well placed bullets would be able to down them. The only problem was trying to determine where is was they were going and if they were going to be walking anywhere near them.

He pulled his pistol out from its holster just as the two behemoths walked underneath him. He looked back to Tali and said, "Be ready to help." Her masked head nodded and readied her pistol as well.

Thane swiftly fell from the duct and landed silently on the floor behind the pair of Anahaus. Tali moved herself towards the hold and pointed her gun at them. Thane closed his eyes for a second before striking out. The first bullet he fired buried itself into the thick and meaty calf of the Anahaus on the left. The creature let out a terrifying howl of pain and grabbed at his leg. A second bullet came out from Thane's pistol and was buried in the side of its face. Blood and brain matter exited the other side of the Anahaus's head and it crashed to the ground. Thane was impressed that he was able to take him down so fast and easy. Of course he had caught it off guard and now the second one was alerted.

It swung his giant paw but before it could connect with Thane, Tali fired two successive shots into its chest. He stumbled back and like the first one, let out a howl of pain and discomfort. A third bullet from Tali finished him off. All in all, the scuffle lasted less than 15 seconds. The floor was covered in a red blood and brain matter. Tali dropped to the floor and stood next to Thane. The duo clipped their pistols back onto their hips and cautiously made their way to the next corner.

"Being out of the those ducts will be a little easier on us," Tali said. "Shepard is probably growing impatient right now." Thane nodded in agreement. The companions turned down a hallway and were very cautious before approaching any corners. After rounding a few more corners they finally found what it was they were looking for; a large room with computer mainframes and a variety of TV monitors. The only thing that was missing from the rooms were the guards. The guards could have been the two Anahaus that they dispatched of not 5 minutes ago.

They entered the room and tried to figure out what all went with what. There were buttons and switches all over the place, making it a proverbial game of 'pick and choose'. Tali looked over all of the controls and tried to make out what they could have meant. Of course all of the words were written in a foreign tounge, possibly the dialect that the Anahaus use. She brought up her Omni-Tool, trying to see if maybe it could have something useful for her. She scanned over the controls and switches and after a few moments looked back at Thane, who had been standing guard by the door.

"My Omni-Tool has not brought up anything concrete," the female Quarian began. "But it is getting a good electronic reading. With a little luck I may be able to have everything we need turned off, off." She smiled underneath her mask and turned back to the consoles.

"Be quick," Thane said. "I feel we may have visitors very soon." Tali worked with an efficient grace and after a few more moments of studying her Omni-Tool and the switches, every camera in the facility had gone dead. Doors were beginning to unlock and the comm buoys to the other mountains were switching off. She hid her Omni-Tool and looked up at the monitors on the wall. They were all static, except for two. The two she had left on were the ones that were at the two doors that the other teams would be entering in from. She left them on so her and Thane would know when they got inside. Thane stood by her side and smiled.

"We need to let Shepard know it is 'safe' to come in," Tali said. Safe was not the word she wanted to use for this particular mission but it was the best word she had. With the security systems shut off Jacob's team and Shepard's small team would be able to gain access to the facility without any problems.

"I will contact Shepard," Thane said. "Keep an eye on those vid screens."

**Belly of the Beast**

Christian Shepard stood on one of the many hills that Calypso had to offer him. The mountains that he and his team needed to get into were only 1 klik away from where he was at now. They had a decent distance to make up but they were making their way there fairly fast. Legion and Garrus had taken up their posts and prepared themselves with enough ammunition to keep the _Normandy_ safe. Both of them were very patient and could sit prone for a long time. Tali and Thane took a 10 minute head start towards the mountains, hoping to be able to disable the security features if they needed too. That was going to be key if the other two teams were going to be able to make it into the base.

Mordin and Miranda walked next to the Commander both being ever vigilant and constantly rotating their heads side to side to make sure that did not miss anything that could around them. Shepard took point of course, and had his silenced pistol in his hand. This mission was going to need some finesse so he decided that going silent would be the best. Of course if all hell broke loose then he would bring out the big guns.

Once Tali and Thane were inside and began to disconnect any of the security systems that were set in place, the mission timer would begin. Shepard decided that 30 minutes would be enough to get Dr. Corson out and back to the _Normandy_. Before they all left the ship, he reiterated the fact that Dr. Corson was the only one they were going to extract at this time. Any more Salarians who had been tortured would only slow them down even more. Shepard knew that his team could not afford that.

The mountain ranges were getting closer and Shepard could begin to make out what he thought were the small tunnels that connected each of the peaks. Figuring out which one would be the best to enter would all be up to what Tali and Thane would relay to them. They were really the key if this entire operation was going to work out. Of course there was no telling what kind of security precautions had been set into place. Mordin painted these Anahaus as dumb beasts but if they have been able to research and develop cloning and facilities for it then they sound like they are slightly more intelligent then dumb beasts.

Shepard and his team stopped and knelt down, waiting for the news that Tali and Thane had been able to get into the mountains. Shepard pressed the button on his visor just to double check his shields. Everything was fine and secured. Nervousness was beginning to take its toll on him. Miranda took notice and put her hands on his shoulders and kissed his cheek. Almost instantaneously he began to calm down. After a couple of deep breaths and a second kiss from Miranda he was back to his normal level headedness. Shepard got back to his feet and surveyed the scenery in front of him. Over to his left he could see Jacob and the second team standing by and waiting for the signal to go.

_"Come on guys,"_ Shepard thought to himself. Shepard stared out at the mountains waiting. Thane and Tali should be done by now and relaying information to him about their success. Bad thoughts began to run through his mind. _"What if they were caught by one of the animals? What if they were dead right now?"_ He shook his head slightly and tried to regain his focus.

"Shepard, its Thane," came the Drell's voice into Shepard's ear piece. "Tali has been able to shut down communications and their security precautions. Now is the time for you and the other team to strike. Thane out." Shepard nodded and turned back to Miranda and Mordin. The look on his face told the other two everything that they needed to know. They double checked their weapons and waited for Shepard's next orders.

Shepard put his fingers up to his ear, "Jacob, Shepard. Its time."

"Roger Commander," Jacob said. Shepard could see the second team in a small clearing. They began to move towards the mountain ranges. After another 5 minutes Shepard, Miranda, and Mordin were standing at the entry way needed to be. The door was the same color as the side of the mountain, and seemed to have a rocky covering to it. The camera panned over to Shepard and his team, stopped, and stared at them. After a moment the doors began to slowly open. Shepard smiled to himself; Thane and Tali had come through for them. Of course, there was never any doubt in his mind that they wouldn't.

Slowly the team of three began to work there way into the building, each of them having their weapons at the ready. Miranda and Mordin had their SMGs, and the Commander had his trusty Assault Rifle out. The Commander led his team down a long hallway lit only but small lights that were 5 meters apart from each other. He barely noticed how long it took them to get from the entrance to the next doorway but he figured it was a couple minutes. They approached the door and Shepard waved his hand over the automatic open button. It opened. The other side was clear so he and his team moved on in. There were a few doors in the hallway that lay in front of them. Carefully and methodically, Shepard and his team checked the rooms and found nothing.

They went through another automatic door saw a sign hanging down from the ceiling that read "LABS" with an arrow to pointing to the right. This piqued the Commander's interest and he lead his team the way the arrow pointed. Shepard was surprised to have not seen any of the Anahaus that he believed would have been patrolling the facilities. Not that he was hoping to see any, just a little surprised.

"Quite an amazing structural feat," Mordin chimed in. "Never thought Anahaus could create such intricate facilities. Maybe I was wrong. Smarter than I thought."

"Or perhaps it could be the Salarians," Miranda said. "They could have been the ones who made the designs for this and the Anahaus simply built it."

"Possibly," Mordin replied. "Would make sense. Still though, Anahaus could be smarter than I had initially proposed."

"That also makes them more dangerous," Shepard said. "Stay sharp, we are almost to the laboratories." Every hallway they went down looked relatively the same. Lights were 5 meters apart, pipes and vents lined the walls and ceiling, and the small misting of steam would come seeping through the walls. They came up to another corner and Shepard poked his head around the corner and finally he saw an Anahaus guard standing menacingly, his back to Shepard. Shepard watched to see what he would do, but the monster did not do anything other than stand and guard the door. Shepard turned back to his team.

"There is one down there," he whispered. "Bull rushing it may not be the best idea. Mordin, he will recognize a Salarian. You need to be the distraction so Miranda and I can bring him down." Mordin nodded and walked to where he would be in the Anahaus's line of sight. He stood there for a moment and then began to flail his arms.

"Excuse me," Mordin said. The guard looked up at him, surprised to see one of the Salarians walking around freely, and dressed the way that Mordin was. He growled and began to walk towards Mordin.

"Why are you not with the others?" the guard said, his voice a low, raspy growl. Shepard could hear his feet thump against the floor. Mordin began to move away from Shepard, hoping to keep the guard's focus on him. He was getting closer and Shepard readied his assault rifle.

"Answer me you big eyed freak!" the guard said trying to intimidate Mordin. "Why are you not with the others?" His intimidating words would be the last ones he would ever speak. The guard rounded the corner. Mordin dropped to the ground as the bullets from Shepard's assault rifle tore through his flesh, killing him. Shepard stood over it and brought out his Omni-Tool, and began to scan the Anahaus, sending his scans to EDI back on the _Normandy_. Maybe she would be able to find out more about these creatures.

The team of three turned their attention back to the laboratory door at the end of the hallway. He readied his assault rifle once more and led his team down the hallway. They made their way to the door and Shepard turned to the other two as if to ask 'are you ready?'. They both nodded, already knowing what he was going to ask. He nodded in reply and opened the door.

They walked in and what they saw was incredible. There was a long table that extended from one end of the room to the next. On that table were various sizes and shapes of microscopes, knives, and other medical instruments. Farther down the table there were boxes, marked with what seemed to be something written in the Anahaus's native tounge. There weren't that many boxes, only 6 of them. Coming from those boxes were an assortment of tubes and wires. Hanging from the ceiling were fine point lasers and robotic clamps and hands. Along side the walls were computers that were positioned about 15 meters apart from each other. Mordin was able to decipher some of the Salarian words and inscriptions, but the rest were Anahaus.

Mordin walked over to one of the boxes and put his hands on the sides and looked it over. Something was inside of it, but figuring out what was inside was going to be the real test. Mordin brought up his Omni-Tool and scanned it over the box, trying to get a read of its contents. A moment later he grinned and continued to analyze his findings. This box was a very cool temperature of -10 degrees Celsius, just the right temperature for what he found was inside. Two Anahaus embryos, both still in the earliest stages of development. Only a couple of the vital organs had begun to develop, including the brain. The brainwaves that Mordin was reading were off of the chart, higher that he could have ever imagined from a pair of embryos.

He moved to the next box and began to scan the contents of it as well. Like the first one it had two embryos but they were a little older, possibly by a few weeks. They had higher brainwaves than the ones before them and Mordin could tell from his scans that they had started to develop non-vital organs. This was such a fantastic find and Mordin was quickly becoming lost in all of this new data.

His eyes moved from the boxes and up to the wires that were connected to them. Gently, he put his fingers on one of the tubes and ran them up and down it trying to analyze things further. The tubes and wires were what was keeping the embryos alive. Each of them sending nutrients, amongst other valuable nourishment to each of the embryos. The slightest miscalculation in how much any of these embryos were to receive would prove to be fatal to them.

"What have you been able to find Mordin?" Shepard asked, standing over the doctor's shoulder.

"Breeding boxes," he said. "Two embryos in each box. All of these are in different developmental stages. Amazing that these boxes are sufficient enough to sustain a life form, let alone two. Salarian work indeed."

"So they are breeding a damned army," Miranda said. "It makes me wonder just how many more rooms there are like this. And where they put them once they begin to mature." Shepard went over and looked at one of the other boxes.

"How long have they been here breeding?" Shepard thought out loud. "Dr. Corson said in his message that he has been a captive for nearly five years. And in that time I wonder how many more of themselves they have made." He shook his head and walked away from the breeding box and back to the door way. Looking out at the hallway and Shepard could still see the dead guard he had killed not 5 minutes ago. It looked like no other guards had come by to check on him, because his body had not been moved. His blood has pooled underneath his massive frame and lined the walls around his body. Shepard turned back and watched as Miranda and Mordin continue to look over the breeding boxes. Shepard checked his mission timer. They only had about 15 minutes left before he wanted his people to be off of this world.

"I hate to break up this science party but we need to find Dr. Corson and get out before they find out that we are here," Shepard said. His two companions nodded and rejoined him at the door. They moved out quietly and back up to the dead guard and patted down his body to see if he had anything of importance on him. And he did, a card key. Shepard pocketed the card and they continued on, trying to locate where Dr. Corson and the other Salarian captives could be. In truth it was difficult to negotiate their way through the facilities, every hallway and doorway looked the same.

After a few more frustrating and wasteful moments the mission timer was down to 10 minutes, they came across a sign over head that Mordin was able to translate from Salarian to Human as "TEMPORARY HOME". Shepard could sense that they were getting close to where they needed to be. They stopped at a corner and Shepard poked his head around once more. Two guards stood in front of a door way that read the same way as the previous sign did. Both of the guards had on a little bit of armor, but still no Kinetic Barriers. Unfortunately they both had some kind of pistols with them. Along with their pistols they had a short blade strapped to their hips. This would make taking them down a bit more of a daunting task than the first one they were able to fool and kill. A direct assault may work, but they would still need to think of something that would take the guards by surprise, and that is when it hit him.

"Miranda, you told me once that you could hit a target from over 100 meters away," Shepard said. She nodded in agreement. "Well these two are less than 30, probably less than 20. Take one of them and try to take of the second. If you can only get one then I will jump in and help you."

"Will do Commander," she said with a sly half grin. She clipped the SMG back on the spot on her lower back and pulled out her pistol. She looked down the hallway and tried to judge how she would go about this. After a moment she turned back to Shepard and took a deep breath.

"Can you do it?" Shepard asked looked at her.

"Don't worry about it," she said, patting his shoulder. She steadied her nerves and peeked back around the corner and pulled the pistol over with her. She slowly brought it up and lined it up with the guard to the left. The pistols sights and eyes got a good beat on the bridge of the Anahaus's nose. She squeezed the trigger. The bullet zipped through the air and rocketed towards the guard. It penetrated its skin and tore through his cranium and brain and buried itself in the wall behind him. The body collapsed backwards and landed with a thud on the floor. The second guard howled and looked down the hallway to see Miranda standing there, pistol in hand. He growled and began to charge towards her.

"Miri what is going on?" Shepard asked, his back still against the wall.

"Everything is under control Shepard," she replied calmly. The Anahaus thundered down the hallway towards Miranda, getting his pistol out and readying it to fire at Miranda. She closed one of her eyes and kept the pistol pointed at his head. The Anahaus opened its mouth once more to growl at her. In that moment Miranda fired twice, both bullets finding their way into his mouth and causing him to stumble forward. The body convulsed one time, and then went still. She turned around to Shepard and grinned.

"I told you everything was under control," she said with a shake of her hips. Shepard smiled and they made their towards the door they hoped the prisoners were in. Shepard pulled out the card key and waved it in front of the door, and it opened. Mordin was shocked at what he saw.

Salarians were locked in cages that lined the walls and were stacked at least two high, three in some places. All of the Salarians looked starved and beaten by their captors. Their clothes were tattered and ragged and they all smelled like they had not bathed in days. Looks of sadness and defeat were etched on all of their faces as they looked at the three people enter the room. Mordin went to the lower rows of cages and checked on all of the captives that he could, and gave them what little Medi-Gel he had to spare. Shepard and Miranda split up from Mordin and did the same as well, but they were looking for Dr. Corson.

"Dr. Corson!" Shepard hollered as he walked in front of the cages, looking for the Salarian. "Dr. Corson this is Commander Shepard of the _Normandy_. I am here with my crew to rescue you." Shepard stopped walking and tried to make out if he could hear the doctor responding at all.

"Comm…Commander Shep…Shepard?" a weak voice came crying out from one of the cages. "Commander Shepard? You came? I am in the cage just a little further down." Dr. Corson put his hand outside of the bars of his cage and Shepard took notice of it. He ran and knelt down by the Salarians cage. He had three scratches across what was an already beaten and bruised face. One of his eyes was almost completely bruised shut. Despite looking like hell he was able to flash the Commander a grin, a sign that he was at least still alive and kicking.

"My God what have they done to all of you?" Shepard asked. He looked over the doctor and gave him some Medi-Gel straight from his Omni-Tool. Dr. Corson took in a deep breath and was able to relax just a little bit.

"I am not concerned with what they have done to me," the doctor said. I am more concerned with what it is that we have done here. We have created us an army of animalistic beasts that are only after one thing." Corson began to tear up a little bit and sat up, after being in a prone position.

"You did what you had to do to survive doctor. No one is going to hold that against you." Shepard said. He began to examine the bars that held the doctor inside his prison.

"But look what we have done now," Corson said. "A new kind of terror will be unleashed upon the galaxy soon and I am one of the ones to blame." He took a breath and tried to calm himself down. "But maybe you are right Commander. I saw many of my people and friends killed right in front of me and for what? So a power hungry ass can have an empire." Shepard stopped looking and turned his attention back to Dr. Corson. "But now you are here Commander. You are here to liberate us."

"Not all of you doctor," Shepard said. "Just you."

"Why not everyone? We all need to leave this place. If we leave then they will have no way of continuing the breeding process."

"If I take too many then we would be slowed down and I cannot afford that," Shepard said. "Right now my priority is getting you out of here doctor. You need to trust my judgment on this." The two stared at each other for a moment before Dr. Corson nodded.

"I understand Commander. Your reputation does proceed you," Corson said with a smile. Shepard grabbed the card key and looked at the cage door. It was a long shot that this would even work, but what the hell. He waved the card in front of the senor and the cage door came open. The risk paid off. The good doctor stumbled out of his cage and into Shepard's arms. Mordin and Miranda joined the Commander as the rest of the Salarians captives began to yell and shout to be freed from their cages as well.

"Dr. Corson. My name is Miranda Lawson," Miranda said, introducing herself with a warm smile.

"Mordin Solus," Mordin added in. "Pleasure to meet such a highly recognized scientist in your field."

"Yes Dr. Solus," Corson said. "Your work always impressed me doctor. I am very glad to finally be meeting you. I do wish the circumstances were better."

"Of course. Perhaps we should better acquaint ourselves on the ship. Less dangerous there," Mordin said as he motioned towards the doorway.

"I believe that would be a great idea Dr. Solus," Corson said. He gently pushed away from Shepard and was able to stand on his own feet. Shepard was surprised at the resiliency of the man. He had been through emotional and physicals hells and here he was able to walk out of it with his head high, almost like nothing had ever happened.

Shepard put one finger to his ear, "Jacob its Shepard."

"Go ahead Commander," Jacob replied over the comms.

"We have Dr. Corson and will be making our back to the _Normandy_ now. Get you and the rest of your team the hell out of this place before we get noticed," Shepard ordered.

"Roger that Commander," Jacob responded. "We will see you back at the ship. Jacob out."

Shepard led his team out of the room that had been dubbed "TEMPORARY HOME". Getting the doctor out had been too damn easy, and that frightened him. Thus far he had only seen three Anahaus, and they had all been easy kills. Then it finally dawned on him. They _did_ know they were there. He stopped walking, almost in shock just thinking about it. If the Anahaus knew that they were here then why not try and stop them and lock them up in this facility.

"Goddamn it!" Shepard blasted. Miranda stopped and turned back and looked at Shepard.

"Shepard come on," she said looking back at him. "We don't have much time to waste."

"The bastards know that we are here," Shepard said. "We got to get back to the ship. NOW!"


	10. FaceOff

**Face-Off**

Kahn stood watching everything unfold from a video screen in front of him. The human ship had been spotted by a scout party roughly 10 standard galactic minutes before they breached into the facilities. He was unsure of what the humans intentions were, but when he saw that it was _him_ who had landed on the planet, Kahn knew that he could use this to hid advantage. He intentionally staffed a lack of guards in each of the facilities just so he could monitor his prey and watch their movements, learning just exactly how they move. Although he did not know why they were here, he let them have almost a free pass around anywhere they wanted to go. Kahn had to sacrifice the occasional guard but the end justified the means in this situation.

What he did not plan for was the two person team of the Drell and Quarian that shut down the main security systems and the communications. It was no big deal, the deck was still stacked highly in his favor and he could not lose.

Curiosity struck him when he saw the party of three enter into one of the many holding areas that were used to keep the doctors in at night or when they were not needed. Surely _he_ would not risk liberating a large number of individuals, not without more man power. Then he was confused when he watched as they rescued one Salarian in particular. The same one that Kahn had questioned just a few days before. He could tell because the Salarian had the scratches across his face from Kahn's claws.

As Kahn watched the scene developing from the safety of one of the many rooms in the mountains, the doors to his room opened and the five Grand Generals, led by General Odsa, entered the room. They walked with a purpose and stood around Kahn. He took comfort in knowing that he was bigger and stronger than they all were. He also had youth on his side, and the knowledge that he was almost untouchable by anyone other than Geng.

"Why is there a human ship here whelp?" Odsa said, trying to intimidate Kahn. It was not working. "Not only a human ship, but _the_ ship that our people have been following for over two years now. Of all of us, you should understand how important this ship and the commander of it is to us. We have _him_ in our clutches and you are simply letting him run around unchecked!" Kahn stood there silently, his eyes firmly locked on the vid screen.

"A superior official has demanded an answer from you young one!" Midor belted out. He put his hand forcefully on Kahn's shoulder. Kahn reached up and latched his enormous paw on Midor's wrist. In one motion he removed the older Anahaus's paw and snapped the bones in his wrist. Midor backed away howling in pain and clutching at his right arm.

"What the hell is your problem whelp?" Odsa said getting in Kahn's face. "You allow a human led team to infiltrate our facilities and then assault a superior officer! That alone is enough to be killed."

"Everything is going according to the way in which I planned it General Odsa," Kahn said calmly and coolly. "With all of your wisdom I would have thought that you would know when you are hunting a dangerous prey, you wait for the opportune moment to strike. Right now is not that time. I am watching and learning how he operates."

"Plan? You are telling me that you are allowing him to roam freely?" Darv said in shock.

"This is bold, even for you Kahn," Odsa said going back to check on Midor. Odsa grabbed Midor's arm. "You are not going to like what I am going to do." Midor nodded, knowing exactly what he meant. Odsa pulled and twisted on his arm, realigning the bones. An earsplitting howl filled the room as Midor favored his arm. Kahn turned back to the screen and watched as the human led the female human and the two Salarians out of the holding room and head back out the way they had came in. The larger group that was led by another dark skinned human had met up with the Quarian and Drell and were also beginning to exit the facilities.

"I am taking over this ridiculous operation," Odsa said to Kahn. He was trying to pull rank and Kahn wanted nothing of the sort to happen.

"No you senile bastard!" Kahn yelled spinning around quickly. Finally his anger and wrath were beginning to be unleashed. He had done well to quench his fury thus far but now Odsa was stepping over a line.

"A handful of our guards are already dead," Odsa began to explain. "You uncle will already be furious with that information, and with this human being here and you now wanting to capture _him_ will only make it worse on you." The general's false sense of compassion made Kahn sick. His involvement was not to keep Kahn from feeling the wrath of his uncle, no, but to give Odsa all of the glory that would come with capturing _him_. That was not how Kahn foresaw any of this going. He had a well thought out plan that, if executed properly, would allow his race to take one giant step closer to domination.

"No General Odsa," Kahn said defiantly. "This is my operation. I have put this together and I will be a damned fool if I allow you to try and take this from me." Odsa grinned and took a step closer to Kahn, getting in his face, trying once more to intimidate him. Both of them stood there ground, neither wanting to budge or give up their ground. It took everything inside of Kahn to not simply reach out and snap the neck of the older general. But there was no formal challenge made to him. If Odsa had made some sort of challenge or test of strength then it would have been perfectly legal inside the confines of Anahaus law for Kahn to have killed him. Odsa must have been able to sense what Kahn wanted to do to him, so he toyed with him by not issuing the challenge.

"Kahn you have much to learn," Odsa said backing away and turning his back to him. "I will head to the human's ship and deal with this personally." Kahn began to protest but held his tounge. There was going to be no stopping a Grand General when he already had his mind set to do something. But this could also work further in Kahn's favor. Odsa would more than likely go by himself out there and face _him_. The only support would be his shields, gun and the standard blade he had on his gauntlet. The general's pride was going to be his downfall and Kahn wanted to make sure that he was able to witness it first hand.

"I concede to you General Odsa," Kahn said, bowing his head. "You can now be in charge and can take whatever measures you think are necessary."

"Do not worry Kahn, I plan on," Odsa said. He walked out of the room and towards the shuttles that would take him out to the human ship.

Kahn turned back around to the vid screen and smiled. It was not a smile from a job well done, it was a smile forged of hate and contempt for the general. A smile that outwardly described what he knew on the inside; the general, was foolishly giving away his life.

**Joker**

Joker sat in the cockpit of the _Normandy_. The seat had became somewhat of a throne for him and the cockpit was like his castle. The rest of the ship was of course Shepard's, but the cockpit was all that Joker needed. Everything that he needed to sustain himself was up here. Things ranging from vids, food, a comfy chair to sleep in, and even someone to talk to. Although she would get a little annoying with her constantly bugging and reminding him about what he did or did not do on his checklists, EDI had become an integral part of Joker's life. She had a great processing speed that allowed her to run searches and scans that it would normally take Joker a long while to run.

Joker stretched back gently, not wanting to cause any unnecessary pain, and yawned. Shepard and the rest of the crew had been gone for over half an hour, longer than what they had said they wanted to be gone. They had been late returning from missions before so that did not cause any red flags to go up. He looked down at the long ranged scanner for the 4th time in about 30 minutes. Yet again there was nothing on the screen, just like the 3 other times before it.

Damn it he was bored and had run out of things to do. And by things to do he meant things that he could delegate to EDI or anyone else in the crew. He would have figured that by now people would have learned to stop doing things he asked them to do. Either they were doing it to be nice to him, or because they felt sorry for him and his condition. Either way, less is more. Less work that he had to do meant the more time he had to goof off.

He gingerly got out of his chair and stood in the cock pit. "EDI, I am gonna go outside for a minute. I need to stretch and get some fresh air. The ship is all yours."

"Very well Mr. Moreau," EDI said in reply. Joker hobbled from the cockpit and over to the airlock. He waved his hand over the door and it opened up, allowing him access to the outside world. A small ramp extended from the _Normandy_ and stopped extending itself once it touched the ground below it. Joker slowly worked his way down the ramp, taking in many deep breaths of the oxygen rich air. It was nice to be getting in the real thing, unlike the artificial air that was supplied on places like the Citadel. The scenery was nice and real too.

He walked off of the ramp and over towards one of the many trees that were in the area surrounding the ship. He reached out and touched it. It was just like a tree on the Citadel, although he knew that this one was alive and real. The bark was a deep brown color and the leaves on it were a healthy green. Being cooped up in that ship for so long and being around all of the unnatural wonders that mankind and the other races had created had made him lose his appreciation for all of the beauty and grandeur there was in nature. This planet was proof that no matter how hard they try on the Citadel, they cannot recreate nature's beauty.

Joker left the tree and walked back towards the ship. Since he was out here he might as well inspect the hull of the ship. Everything seemed to be in order. The people at the Citadel made some nice repairs, including the hole the Oculus left when they were on their way to the Collector home world. The damn thing left a nice hole in the side of the _Normandy_, right before Shepard blew it straight to hell. Joker rounded the side of the ship opposite the airlock and kept doing his brief inspection of everything. Nothing was out of place or out of the ordinary. He smiled. The _Normandy_ was his life, and everyone knew that.

In the distance Joker could hear the faint sound of what he thought was a small shuttle some ways off. He was not able to pinpoint where the sound was coming from but it was getting louder and closer. Joker was beginning to get a little nervous, he knew that Shepard and the rest of the crew went out on foot and left the shuttle here on the ship. Even Legion and Garrus were out there without any form of transportation. The sound of the shuttle kept getting louder and louder until he was finally able to see it. It came in high and fast, with only one occupant, the driver. Joker wasn't sure what the driver was, but it had on an orange armor, and its body looked to be completely covered in black fur.

"Joker its Garrus," Joker heard in his ear. "I see the shuttle but neither one of us and can get a good shot at him. We will keep on watching and see what he is going to try and do. Just stay calm ok?" Joker offered up no response and tried to hobble back to the ship. The shuttle landed and the driver got out, allowing Joker to finally be able to see just how big he was. He was easily a foot taller than Joker and out weighed him considerably. The gun on his hip and the blade on his wrist. He quickly identified it as an Anahaus and he instantly had a greater respect for the creatures.

The Anahaus moved towards him quickly, quicker than Joker would have ever imagined him to have moved. He made up the gap there was between the two of them quickly and before Joker knew what was going on, the beast knocked him back onto the ground. The Anahaus towered over him. Some of its drool dripped down and landed on Joker's uniform. His hot, stinky breath made Joker a little queasy, and he tried to crawl away from him.

Where the hell was Shepard at? And why hadn't Garrus or Legion tried shooting this monstrosity down?

It kept moving closer and reached out for Joker's shirt and latched onto it. Joker could feel his razor like claws barely scratch against his chest, drawing a little bit of blood from it. The Anahaus lifted him up off of the ground and brought Joker in close to him. He began to sniff him, trying to get a feel for Joker. Joker began to squirm around a bit in the monsters clutches, but the Anahaus growled angrily and loudly in Joker's face.

"Okay, okay I get it. I won't move!" Joker said out loud. The Anahaus cocked its head to the right in curiosity, as if he was trying to understand what Joker was saying. He gave off an inquisitive growl and lifted Joker higher into the air. Joker was amazed at the almost effortless ease that the Anahaus used to lift him up. He kept his eyes on the creatures gun and wrist blade, afraid that he may use either one of them at any time.

"Joker it is Garrus again," he said into Joker's ear piece. "Shepard is on his way to you now. I told him about your…predicament, and he is busting his ass to get there."

"That's…that's great guys thanks," Joker said in a tone that would not startle the Anahaus. "Why don't you take a shot and see what happens? Maybe we don't need Shepard right now."

"Not with you in his hands and being that close to the _Normandy_," Garrus said. "There are too many variable to consider. Right now just keep yourself calm and do not make any sudden movements. I would hate to see something like him pissed off."

"S-sure Garrus," Joker said. "You always know best…I guess." Joker swallowed the lump in his throat and kept letting the Anahaus examine him. Despite being scares shitless, Joker was amazed that the creature was just looking him over, and not trying to maul him to death or give him one quick bite to his jugular.

Everything was falling the way Garrus had wanted it to. Joker was being calm, the creature was not having any sort of reaction to anything he was doing, and Shepard was on his way back. But there was something that none of them had planned for. A variable that in all of his tactical genius Garrus Vakarian foolishly looked over when trying to map out what was going to happen. Ken Donnelly.

Ken stepped out onto the ramp, assault rifle in his hands. He looked around in both directions and saw nothing. EDI had informed him that there was something coming up on the long ranged scanners, and that Joker was outside of the ship. Her cool and calculated voice had no ability to influx when trying to simulate being worried, but Ken knew she was.

He walked down off of the ramp and heard a low growling sound coming from underneath the _Normandy_. Ken turned and pointed his assault rifle out, ready to shoot anything down that would try to harm him. He finally saw Joker, being hoisted into the air and examined by some kind of monster with orange armor on. The monster was waving Joker around like he was a rag doll, and continually sniffing him. Ken took a few more steps closer and pointed his gun out at the creature. After another moment, he worked up the nerve to speak.

"Put him down!" Ken hollered, gun at the ready to kill the beast. "Put him down or I will fire!" The Anahaus turned its head and looked at Ken. He let out a low muffled growl and began to show his teeth.

"Ken, drop you gun and go back inside," Joker said calmly. The Anahaus was beginning to get angry. He looked back at Joker and then at Ken once more. "Don't shoot your damn gun Ken you could hit me!" Ken stood there shaking, very hesitant about what to do next. His eyes went back and forth from the fear stricken Joker, to his demonic looking assailant. Ken took a commanding step forward and kept the assault rifle locked on the creature.

"_This has to be one of them_," Ken thought to himself. "_An Anahaus_." They had been told about them by EDI, just as she had told Shepard and his squad. Ken was shaking out of fear and nervousness, but tried to keep some sort of composure.

"Ken, this is a bad idea," Joker said. His voice was beginning to get a little higher, the closer he felt like he and his crewmate got to danger.

The Anahaus roared loudly and held joker to his side. With his free hand he grabbed the pistol on his hip and aimed it out at Ken. Joker flailed around, trying to get free from the Anahaus's clutched. The behemoth looked at him and threw him down to the ground. Joker was lucky to only have the wind knocked out of him as he hit. The Anahaus reached back down and grabbed Joker by one of his frail arms. He squeezed tightly, causing the bones in Joker's arm to shatter and break. Joker could feel the bones in his arm begin to crumble away underneath the might of the Anahaus. He let out an inhuman scream of pain and agony, hoping that this monster would let him go.

Ken had enough of seeing his friend in pain and fired off a quick brace of shots right into the chest of the Anahaus. The monster did not move at all and began to turn his head to look over at Ken who was looking like he was gearing up to take another shot at the Anahaus. Both of the bullets came off of his chest, causing no injuries or damage to him at all.

"Oh shit," Ken said under his breath. The Anahaus quickly pulled out the pistol that was attached to his hip, aimed, and fired at Ken. The bullet him square in the chest, knocking him back and sending him to the ground. Blood began to slowly seep out from underneath of his prone and lifeless body, causing Joker to fear the worst.

"Damn it you big fury bastard!" Joker yelled, trying to kick out at the Anahaus. The Anahaus gave him what looked like a sick smile and squeezed tighter around Joker's arm. There was not much bone that had not yet been broken by the Anahaus, and now he was simply squeezing and digging his nails into Joker's flesh. Joker watched as small trickles of blood came down his arm. As the tears streamed down his face he hoped and prayed that this torture would soon end so he could be able to help Ken.

What happened next happened so fast that it took Joker by surprise. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a solid object smash into the side of the Anahaus's head. Another second later and Joker was back on the ground. But this time he was able to crawl away from the Anahaus and made his over to the body of Ken. He looked up to see Shepard squaring off against the much larger Anahaus. He reached over to Ken's neck and tried to feel for a pulse. He waited and felt and finally he found it. Somehow Ken was alive, albeit barely. Miranda, Mordin, and another Salarian that he could only assume to be Dr. Corson came running to side.

"He has been shot but he is still alive, barely," Joker said. Mordin gave Ken the rest of his Medi-Gel, hoping that could prolong his life long enough.

"He needs to go to Dr. Chakwas," Miranda said to the doctors. "Take him in the there and I will help Joker."

"What about the Commander?" Joker asked, grimacing in pain.

"Don't worry about the Commander," Miranda said. "We need to get back inside and have EDI fire up the ship. We are getting off of this world." Miranda helped Joker up to his feet and supported him as they walked up the ramp. She looked back, concerned for Shepard's life. But he was a big boy who could handle himself. And if she got involved then she would only be getting in the way. Plus, Jacob and his team were also on their way back.

Shepard pulled out his shotgun and aimed it at the Anahaus in front of him. The only ones that he had faced off against today had no armor or shielding, and this one had both of them. The Anahaus moved forward a little slashed downward with the blade on his wrist gauntlet, right at Shepard's head. Shepard brought the shotgun up to parry the strike but the blade tore through the shotgun, leaving it in two pieces. An evil roar came from the Anahaus as he lunged forward for another strike. Shepard rolled to the side and pulled out his assault rife. It took a second for it to open up to be ready to use, and that down time was all that the Anahaus needed to capitalize.

He grabbed the assault rifle and flung Shepard into a nearby tree. Shepard got to all fours, a little groggy, and felt around for his rifle. He looked over to his left and saw the Anahaus moving quickly towards him. Before Shepard could grab another weapon, the Anahaus ran up to him and kicked him in the side, breaking at least two of his ribs. Shepard held his side as a sharp pain began to shoot up through his body. The paw of the Anahaus grabbed him by the throw and lifted him up off of the ground. He roared at Shepard, causing spit and saliva to run out of his mouth. Shepard reached one hand down for the pistol that attached to his hip, but the Anahaus took notice.

The Anahaus slammed Shepard back first into another tree, multiple times. A glass look came over Shepard's eyes as he was thrown like a sack of potatoes to the ground. He looked up at the blue skies, trying to keep his eyes open and not slip into unconsciousness. He watched from the corner of his eye as the Anahaus's foot came crashing down onto his chest. Shepard wailed and screamed out in pain while the Anahaus pressed down harder and added more weight onto Shepard's chest. Every time he thought that he was going to get a small reprieve from the pain, the behemoth over him would send his foot back crashing down onto his chest.

Breathing became a struggle, as did the desire to maintain consciousness. Each stomp was less painful and every time hear heard a roar it was fainter and seemed farther away. Then everything seemed to change. _Crack!_ Shepard knew that sound. It was the sound of a sniper rifle from a close distance. The Anahaus was rocked a bit, but stayed with his foot on Shepard. _Crack!_ A second bullet fired in from a close distance, this time the shields of the Anahaus were beginning to fade. Shepard felt around for his pistol, knowing that he only had a few seconds left before he blacked out from the pain.

_Crack! Crack!_ Another salvo of bullets came flying in. The first one knocked out the shield. The second bullet zipped in and connected with the Anahaus right in his knee cap, shattering it, and sending the monster into a frenzy. Shepard pulled out his pistol and aimed at its head. He pulled the trigger and watched as blood exited from the back of its head. The beast crashed down to the ground and laid there lifeless.

Shepard rolled to his side and coughed up a little bit of blood. He felt himself being lifted up off of the ground and was relieved to see that it was Grunt.

"Come on Shepard," said Grunt. He threw the Commander over his shoulder and ran up the ramp and into the ship. The rest of the crew followed them on inside and the ramp began to retract back into the ship.

Grunt carried Shepard down to the med-bay with Joker and Ken, while EDI took full control of the ship. The engines roared to life and the familiar hum of the _Normandy's_ systems could be heard throughout the ship. EDI lifted the ship off of the ground and plotted a course that would lead them back to the Citadel, and report their findings. Once the ship was out of Calypso's orbit EDI switched on the ships Kinetic Barriers and Mass Effect fields and headed for the nearest Mass Relay.

**Kahn**

It was a small personal victory for Kahn; two of them at that. General Odsa was dead, and he was able to ensure that the Salarian doctor made it onto the ship. Kahn knew something that the generals did not: the Salarians all have locator chips installed in all of them, making it easy to track them down should they try to escape. Unfortunate as it was that the general would not listen to him, this was Kahn's gain. The other four Grand Generals did not have the hatred for him like Odsa did, and maybe they would be willing to listen to him now. With Odsa gone it meant that Kahn would be able to speak to them without fear of seeds of doubt planted in.

Kahn stood in front of a holographic image of his Uncle Geng. "I have good news and bad news Excellency. General Odsa has been killed today."

Geng was internally furious, but did not stray from his normally composed demeanor. "And the good news?" To Kahn that was the good news. In fact, to him there was no bad news, only news that needed to be classified as such for the sake of his uncle.

"The good news is, a Salarian went missing," Kahn answered. Geng looked at him in shock.

"Be quick in your explanation my young nephew," Geng said.

"_He_ has the Salarian," Kahn replied. He saw the thoughts running through his uncle's head as Kahn broke that news to him. Finally they could begin their vision.


	11. Twists and Turns

-Not really feeling this chapter myself. I like the idea I had behind it, but there is just something about it…Maybe because it is short. I am sorry for that too. I am working on several chapters right now all at once.-

**Twist**

Operations Chief Ashley Williams finally woke up in her bed. It took a few moments for her eyes and body to get readjusted to being awake but she was finally able to do so. She must have drank a little more than she had intended to the night before. Her hang over was still looming and she could not remember how she got home. Ashley pulled herself up a bit and looked down at her half naked body.

"_Oh shit_," she thought to herself. She had made coming home drunk with someone a bit of a habit in the last couple of years. The only time she was able to try and keep herself weaned off of men and booze was during her stint on Horizon. Even then it was hard to resist some of the drinks they had there. But now that she was back on the Citadel and in her apartment, she was able to let herself go a little bit. She peeked over at the man in her bed with her, praying that she didn't make some mistake. Ashley got a look at his face and breathed a small sigh of relief. At least he was cute.

The little voice in the back of her head kept telling her that she needed to do something about her random drunken escapades, but every time she tried to talk herself out of it, she was able to justify why she did it. The number one reason she thought of was she liked sex. And what adult in their right mind wouldn't like it. Secondly, and the one reason that she did not like to use was Shepard. She was no longer angry with him for not trying to contact her after he came back from the dead. Hell, she didn't even hurt anymore from him working with Cerberus. It finally took her over two years but she was okay with not loving him anymore. She had moved on and changed after she saw the _Normandy_ light up the black of space and become engulfed in a raging tornado of fire and metal.

After she sent him the message about apologizing for how she acted on Horizon, she expected no reply from him. She wasn't even surprised to had not received one. She was very harsh to him but at the time, that is how she felt towards him. She was angry at him for not even trying to contact her once Cerberus had given him another chance. But her duty surpassed any feelings of anger or malice that she may have towards him.

Shaking her head, she got out of the bed and began to get partially dressed. Ash put on her undergarments and one of her t-shirts that was left on the floor. It smelled clean, so why not put it on. Her bedmate still had yet to stir at all. Ash smiled. She liked to think that she put on a hell of a show and maybe she just wore him out. She turned from him and sat down in the chair in front of her personal terminal. She brought one leg up and held it to her chest, and left the other one dangling down.

Ashley checked the time on the console. It was very early in the morning. That meant that either she was having trouble sleeping, or she was feeling a little guilty about brining home another man. Regardless of the reason, she was now up. She checked her private messages and only one stood out to her, the one that was from Councilor David Anderson. She had taken a leave of absence from the Alliance after the Horizon ordeal, and Anderson knew that. He knew how was doing right now and that she did not want to be bothered by the things of the Alliance right now. This was her way of trying to get away from everything for awhile.

Deleting the message was an option. Most of the messages that she had received from Anderson were inquires about Shepard and how she had been doing in regards to his death. Those were a couple of years ago though. Then he began to message her about something that he wanted her to do on the planet Horizon. Now that Horizon was done and Shepard was behind her, what the hell could he want? She felt a warm pair of hands come up behind her and begin to rub her shoulders. Every muscle in her shoulders and upper arms began to loosen up, giving her a great sense of relief. She got lost in the shoulder massage, and became oblivious to everything else around as long as it went on.

"Why are you awake?" the man asked. He leaned down and kisses her neck some.

"I didn't mean to wake up," Ashley said. She closed her eyes, enjoying the attention that she was receiving. "I am sorry if I woke you up Riley." Riley was also a member of the Human Systems Alliance. Captain Riley Richardson. A handsome man of 37, who looked and was built like he was in his mid 20s. His time with the Alliance allowed him to keep in top physical shape, and that was something that Ash appreciated about him last night.

The two had met at one of the new bars in the Wards a little over 12 hours ago. Ashley had noticed him from across the bar but naturally wanted him to be the one to make the first move. She had almost given up on him but before she left the bar, that is when he made his move. It was not his looks or the cheesy pick up line that he failed at executing that caught her attention, but his flair and sense of maturity that she liked. He was a gentlemen from the onset, and even opened all of her doors for her. Chivalry was far from dead in Riley's mind, judging by the way he went about treating her. There was something very genuine and sincere about him. It was unfortunate that she liked him. He may not be around long if she kept up her very frivolous lifestyle.

Riley caught a glimpse of her terminal screen and saw the message from the councilor. "Is Councilor Anderson a close friend of yours?"

"You could say that," she said. The question caught her off guard a bit. "I worked with him once during the Eden Prime War."

"So you fought during the war?" he asked, taking a break from nibbling on her neck.

"I did," Ashley said. She turned the monitor off and looked back at Riley. "But that was a long time ago. I have tried to distance myself from the Alliance for now." She realized the irony of what she had just said. She wanted to distance herself from the Alliance, and yet here she was sleeping with a Captain. Luckily for her, he did not make that same connection.

"Why? The Alliance is always in need for someone with your…raw talent," he said, placing his hand on the upper part of her thigh.

"I had no idea how good someone was in the bedroom was taken into account when they were being evaluated for missions," Ashley said back playfully.

"Well I like to take it into consideration," Riley said to her. A few moments later of playful and flirty banter and the two were back in Ashley's bed. Their loving making was fast and intense, and it was not last long before they were both back asleep.

Morning finally rolled around. Ashley was back at her computer terminal, having left Riley in the bed once more. She must have been that damn good to have knocked him out for a second time. Ash looked back at the messages and finally opened up the one from Councilor Anderson. The title was 'No Subject'. That was something that she had brown accustomed to when it came to Anderson's messages.

_Operations Chief Ashley Williams,_

_It has been a long time since the two of us have last spoke. I apologize if this causes some sort of inconvenience for you, but I may need your help with something. I would rather have a meeting with you instead of sending messages back and forth across what could be an unsecured line._

_Anderson_

Ashley folded her arms underneath her breasts, sighed, and tried to think about what it was that the Councilor was wanting from her. The worst case scenario was this had something to do with Shepard. Even if she was over any and all of the feelings that she had for him, she still did not want things to be awkward…for anyone. Mainly herself. Then again it could be a mission that resembled Horizon. She may need to be stationed on some planet that the Alliance was trying to improve relations with. Maybe it was some top secret mission that Anderson could only discuss with her.

Whatever reason he had for messaging her, she knew that it must be urgent if he was willing to go across an unsecured channel to contact her. She sent out no reply other than an inquiry about when and where the Councilor would want to meet at. Chances were he wanted to meet in his office or somewhere on the Presidium.

Williams stood and walked back into her bedroom and looked out at the captain sleeping on her bed. Maybe the Alliance was where she needed to be. If not there, then where? She did not want to continue on with this self-destructive behavior, no matter how great the sex was. She wanted to get back out there amongst the elite that the universe had to offer. The thrill was begging her to come back, and she had been swift to ignore it, until now. Now she was curious to see what it was that Councilor Anderson was offering her.

**Recovery**

Shepard woke with minimal pain in his sides. His eyes were still trying to get readjusted to being in the light after having been closed for so long. "_How long was I out for_?" Shepard thought to himself. Miranda was sitting in a chair next to him. In this light she looked angelic, a great picture of the perfect woman that he thought her to be. Her hair looked a little messy, probably from not having been washed for a day or two. That made Shepard wonder if he was out for that long or longer. Joker was nowhere to be seen, but then again it was hard to keep him out of the cockpit for long. Shepard smiled when he thought of Joker referring to the cockpit as his throne. In truth it was. Joker ran everything and knew everything about the cockpit and the front of the ship and made sure that it was done in his way and his time. That made Joker one of the best that this ship had to offer.

The Commander moved around a bit, and that is when the pain began to kick in. He let out a low grunt as he was able to sit up on the edge of the bed. He looked up to see Miranda stirring in the chair next to him. She jumped out of the bed and went to his side.

"Christian lay back down," Miranda said, trying to care for him. "You need to be getting all of the rest you can right now. Your injuries were a little more than some bruising."

"What all is wrong with me?" Shepard asked. He kept sitting on the side of the bed, trying not to bend his body forward. Miranda put her hands on his shoulder and forcefully laid him back down on the bed.

"I said you need to rest Commander," she said, running her hand through his hair. "I need you back to full health soon." She winked and leaned in, kissing his forehead gently. "You had a severe concussion, two broken ribs, one cracked rib, internal bruising, a little internal bleeding and a separated shoulder. We have been able to fix what was fixable at this time, but you are going to require a good amount of rest to be back to your full strength."

"What about Joker?" Shepard asked.

"Joker is going to be okay as well," Miranda said with a smile. He had to do reconstructive surgery on his right arm but I should be fully functional in a few weeks." She checked one of the monitors and had her back to Shepard.

"There is something you are not telling me Miranda. What it is?" Shepard asked, propping himself up on his elbow. She stopped and turned her head to the side a little bit. He could tell that she wanted be to speak but she was trying to find the right words.

"Ken didn't make it Shepard," Miranda said. She finally turned around to face him. The Anahaus shot him square in the chest. Joker thought he felt a pulse and we rushed him back in here to try and save him. Mordin, Corson, and Dr. Chakwas all worked on him but they were unable to stop the inevitable. I am sorry Shepard." Christian shook his head and laid back down on the bed, swearing at himself. If he had been just a little quicker Ken may still be alive. If they had spent just five minutes less in that damn facility then they would have gotten off that world and Ken would not have had to try and save Joker.

"Damn it," Shepard said. Miranda knew that he was hard on himself when there was something he felt he could have prevented. He shook his head and brought one of his hands up to his head, rubbing his brow.

"There is nothing you could have done Christian," Miranda said. "From what Joker told me, he went out for a walk to check the hull of the ship. That is when the Anahaus arrived. Joker said that the Anahaus simply looking him over. EDI warned the crew that there was something unknown outside, so Ken went outside to check it out. Joker tried to keep him away but Ken kept trying to help him. Joker said that Ken's mistake was shooting the Anahaus. That is when the Anahaus shot him once in the chest." Shepard shook his head, closed his eyes, and let out a big sigh.

"Did you tell Gabby?" Shepard asked.

"We told her after we tried to revive him," Miranda said. "She took it pretty rough, but she has been coping well. You may not find this surprising, but she has been spending most of her time down in engineering with Tali."

"How long was I out again?" Shepard asked.

"A little over a day," Miranda said. "The Anahaus gave you a pretty good beating. Like I said earlier, you had a severe concussion and two broken ribs. Not to mention the internal damage that was caused."

"Did everyone else make it back onto the ship?" Shepard asked.

"We got everyone else on board, including Dr. Corson," Miranda said. He has been spending a lot of time with Mordin, going over data that the two of them had collected over the years. It is quite interesting to watch them interact with each other." She smiled and ran her hand through his hair. "Right now, I need you to get some rest."

"I would like to, but I can't," Shepard said. "I have a lot on my mind right now."

"Everything is being taken care of right now Shepard. Kelly and Dr. Chakwas have run a full psych and physical evaluation on Dr. Corson. Joker is back up in the cockpit, and everyone else is doing their daily routines. So please, just lay here and relax. We are able to handle things around the ship without you, surprisingly." She ended the sentence with a smile and kissed his forehead once more. He laid back on the table and closed his eyes, getting lost in the narcotics and pain killers that were being pumped into his body.

Miranda smiled and left the infirmary. The Alliance would want them to give a detailed report concerning their trip to Calypso, but it could wait until Shepard was back near 100%. Until then she would try and oversee has much as she could. Most parts of the ship already had someone looking over it. Tali oversaw much of what went on in engineering, Garrus looked over things that concerned the ships weapons, and Mordin was the head of the science and tech lab. Those three took up those posts without even having to be asked by Shepard. Tali and Garrus did it out of their history with Shepard and the Eden Prime War.

Garrus' loyalty to Shepard was the most surprising to her. It was no secret that many Turians hated mankind. It was a hatred that spanned back to the First Contact War. Garrus was part of the 'new school' of Turians that did not hate or love humanity, he simply embraced it as a part of the galactic community. Garrus and Shepard had a very different relationship from what she had seen between most humans and Turians. There was more than a respect between the two, there was also a friendship and a loyalty that could not be denied. All of the crew was loyal to Shepard, including herself, but there was a different bond when it came to him and Garrus.

The Citadel was to be there next destination. They needed to report their findings directly to Councilor Anderson. That was something that he had requested of them before they left a couple of days ago. Something in the back of Miranda's mind told her that they were not done dealing with the Anahaus. The _Normandy_ and her crew had landed on their planet, rescued one of their prisoners, and left a handful of their guards dead. Not to mention the orange armored Anahaus. Maybe Dr. Corson could provide them with some more information about the Anahaus…just in case.


	12. Geng's Retribution

-I just wanted to say thanks to all of those who continue to read this story. As always please feel free to review-

**Geng's Retribution**

Geng preferred that those lower than he do all of his dirty work, but this time things were different. He felt though that he had been personally sinned against by this human called Shepard. Geng had been monitoring and following Shepard's every movement for a few years now, and was not surprised that he pulled a bold stunt. They were able to extract a Salarian doctor with relative ease. The lack of guards in the facility was a concern for Geng, but Kahn continually reassured him that it was all part of a bigger plan. A plan that would see the Anahaus finally make their mark on galactic history.

Despite wanting to feel happy about Kahn's plan for their race, Geng was enraged and slightly saddened by the death of his oldest friend General Odsa. The other generals had said Odsa let his pride get the best of him. Pride was a feeling that Geng knew could work against him and the other Anahaus, so he tried greatly to stray away from being so prideful. It was hard to not be a pride being though. He was the leader of his people and had brought them out of the pits of a personal hell. Now his people were prospering in ways that they would have never imagined. They were breeding an army of super soldiers and they would be ready to wreak havoc on the galaxy in a couple of days. Once they were ready then the first step to ruling the galaxy would be complete.

Geng stepped towards one of the windows in his personal chambers and looked out at Vert, the Anahaus home world. Vert had become such a putrid and wretched world to live on since the Anahaus learned how to perfect the art of cloning. The waste of their progression into a technologically advance race now littered the many streets of Vert and kept disease and mortality rates up. This was something that was tried to be remedied, but to no avail. Now the Anahaus were on the lookout for new planets to try and inhabit and make a part of their empire. Darkened clouds lined what used to be a bright blue sky.

The ruler of the Anahaus scratched his snout and contemplated the next move for his people. Kahn would be showing up any moment now, updating him on the plan that Kahn has set in motion. Sometimes Geng feared how smart Kahn was gradually becoming. He was too smart for his own good, and when the day came in which Kahn realized his brilliance…Geng stopped, not wanting to imagine that. Kahn was already superior to the rest of the Anahaus, and having him realize it could be bad for Geng's rule. There had not been a challenge on his position for quite a few years now, and he did not want one anytime soon.

Every light in the room began to dim down to a slight glow. Geng kept his back to the center of the room where Kahn would be appearing from. The room got an orange glow about it before a holographic image of Kahn's massive frame appeared in the room. Kahn looked around the room to make sure that no one else was around, before he bowed to his mentor.

"Excellency," Kahn said out of respect for Geng and his position of power. Geng waited a moment longer before finally turning around and looking at Kahn.

"Rise my nephew," Geng replied back. Kahn rose to his feet and looked across the room at Geng. "I am withholding my anger from you for know because of this plan you have yet to reveal to me. In truth I should have you put to trial as a conspirator behind the death of Odsa." Geng tried to bluff a little bit with his nephew. Geng was fully aware that Odsa's death was because of his own foolish pride, but he did not want his nephew knowing that was how he felt. Geng was a master negotiator and manipulator, and he could get anyone to do whatever it was he wanted done.

"General Odsa went out on his own accord to face the human and his crew," Kahn said defiantly. "I told him before he left that I had a plan. He almost ruined what took me a great deal of time to conjure up." Geng could sense the frustration in his nephew's voice, but was relentless in his methods.

"You deliberately stationed a fewer amount of guards in the facilities so a Salarian could be taken by Shepard," Geng said, beginning to pace and feign a sense of frustration. "You allowed three separate teams of Shepard's crew to infiltrate our facilities and kill a handful of guards. You have possibly ruined our chance to show our might and technological superiority to the rest of the galaxy. You have failed me once more nephew." Those words struck Kahn deeply, almost knocking him back a little bit.

"Excellency I swear to you that the death of General Odsa will be avenged," Kahn said. "Shepard will pay for this, I swear it!"

"Swearing vengeance for his death will not erase the fact that your arrogance has cost you twice now," Geng said, walking closer to the image of Kahn. "It cost you when you tried to interrogate the Salarian doctor, and now it has cost me the life of a close friend!" Geng continued to try and beat down Kahn verbally, hoping that he will understand that there normally are consequences for his actions. Right now most of what Geng was doing was a bluff, although he was furious and slightly saddened over the death of Odsa.

Kahn hung his head and Geng finally had what he wanted. Kahn was vulnerable an would be willing to accept any punishment, if that was what Geng truly wanted. But it wasn't. This was yet another training exercise to help make Kahn a better soldier and a much more mature Anahaus. Kahn would never know his true intentions though.

"What would you have become of me Exalted One?" Kahn asked. Geng knew that Kahn was above graveling. However, his form of begging and trying to undo what he had done was calling Geng by names other than uncle. "If it be your wish I will hunt down Shepard and bring back the Salarian they took from us. I will kill Shepard and destroy his ship. I will do whatever it is you ask of me."

Geng smiled and appreciated the work that he had done with his nephew. "The Salarian is of no concern to me. We have more than enough on Calypso and an over abundance on our other planets. But as far as Shepard is concerned…he must be dealt with if we are to successfully get to our ultimate goal."

"Yes Excellency," Kahn said. "I want to be the one to deal with him."

"And you will be Kahn, but in due time. This is a delicate situation that we must deal with gently. The Salarian doctor that Shepard took from us will surely tell Shepard about what it is that we are doing here. And Shepard will relay that information to his superiors on the Council." Geng hated all of the other races in the Galaxy, especially those who sat on the Council. In his eyes they all just stood up behind their podiums and looked down upon the rest of the galaxy with a sense of haughtiness.

"The Council will need to be dealt with too Uncle," Kahn said.

"_I am uncle again,_" Geng thought to himself. Outwardly he said, "They will be dealt with in time my young nephew. Right now, Shepard is our most pressing problem. Humanity follows him and the council holds him in high regards. If he can be killed, well humanity and the Council could follow soon after. Once they are out of the way, who then would oppose us?" Geng paused and looked out at Kahn. "What is this plan that you are desperately ready to unleash on Shepard?"

Kahn grinned. He was finally given the chance he had been waiting for. Now he could redeem himself for the errors that he had made. "The Salarian doctor has a tracking ship located deep within his body. When he initially captured them all, they were branded by inserting the chip into their bodies. Right now I can track where in the galaxy he is at and have a good guess as to where he is going."

"Where is Shepard taking him right now?" Geng asked as he folded his massive arms across his thick chest.

Kahn pulled out a small pad and held it out in front of his face. He paused for a moment before grinning. "Shepard's ship is currently on its way back to the Citadel, just as you had predicted Excellency." Geng nodded and paced back and forth again for a moment. There was no reason for any kind of direct assault on the heaviest defended space station in the galaxy. That would be a foolish move on his part, and a foolish suggestion if Kahn were to mention it. To his relief, it must not have even crossed through his nephew's mind.

"If they head to the Citadel, then they will have a great sanctuary there. It would be damn near impossible to make any sort of contact with either Shepard or the doctor. But if they were to leave the safety of the Citadel then we could use that moment to strike." Geng stayed quiet for a moment, trying to maul over all of the scenarios in his head. Attacking the Citadel was foolish. Playing a game of cat and mouse with Shepard could also be foolish as well. But if they were to draw Shepard away from the Citadel then that could present them with the opportunity they desired. But getting Shepard and his ship away from there would be tricky.

"That is the biggest problem we have though nephew," Geng said. "How to ensure that Shepard comes riding in when…" Geng's sentence trailed off, a devious thought coming into his mind. It finally dawned upon him how he was going to manipulate a situation to get Shepard to come to him.

"Uncle?" Kahn asked inquisitively.

"There are a few things that most humans have in common," Geng said. "One of those things is greed. Another is curiosity. But this feeling is something that I share with humanity. Revenge."

"I do not understand Uncle," Kahn said.

"I would not expect you to my young nephew," Geng said. "One of the other generals told me about Odsa shooting one of Shepard's crew members." Kahn's complexion changed. He had forgotten about that small detail. And now he had given away the fact that he had also been forgetful. Geng made no comments about it though, and let this small incident slide. "It was a clean shot to the male human's chest, and I would think it to be a damned miracle if were to survive. Then of course one of my top generals was killed; a life for a life. But his crew members death will not make up for the death of Odsa. I want more. I want to break Shepard, and destroy everything around him before we swoop in and finally decimate him. If Shepard is the type of man that I believe he is, then he will be looking for revenge.

"His quest for vengeance, mixed in with humanity being a curious race will take him to anything that looked like we could possibly be involved," Geng continued. "But we still must be careful about what it is we are going to do. We need to make sure that this plan is thoroughly and thoughtfully planned out before we strike."

"I agree with you Uncle," Kahn said. In his eyes Geng was infinitely wise, although in truth he was far from it. Experience was what made Geng so menacing to the other Anahaus. His efforts in battles were legendary, and he had a prowess that was unmatched by any past leaders of the Anahaus race.

"Your next assignment my nephew will be this," Geng began. "You need to find a human colony. Size does not matter for us, so leave that out of your requirements. But find a planet that can easily be purged of the disease that is humanity. I can almost guarantee that Shepard will be the one to show up. But you must make sure that news of an Anahaus attack makes it way to the Citadel. That will surely bring him into us." Geng nodded, approving of his own plan.

"I know exactly what soldiers to use as well," Kahn said. At that moment two more Anahaus joined him in Geng's view. They were Kahn's height and built the same way as he, leaving Geng with only one thought of what they were; Annihilators. Kahn was an impressive specimen himself, but seeing two more just like him struck a small form of fear into Geng's heart. Geng was the strongest Anahaus until they bred Kahn and now the first batch of Annihilators. And he never once thought that his position and power would ever be in jeopardy until this very moment in time. The Anahaus' entire army would soon be these behemoths before him, and then there would be hundreds, maybe even thousands of Annihilators, all bred for the destruction of others. A normal Anahaus lusted for power and craved destruction, but the Annihilators were much different. They were pumped full of hormones that would make them a threat to anything around them, even themselves and those in charge of them. Geng was glad that they only had ten done for now, and that they could use this mission as a test run. If they were to get too out of control then Geng would have the Salarians back off on the hormones they were giving them.

"Impressive nephew," Geng said. He kept his icy cool exterior and looked at Kahn. "We truly have the perfect army now." Geng said hopefully. "However, I want one of the members of my war council to go with you."

Kahn frowned and furrowed his eyebrows in anger, "If you send one of those pompous life forms with me, it will prove to me that you do not trust me. I can handle these Annihilators on my own."

"It is not them I am concerned with handling Kahn. It is you!" Geng pointed one of his claws at Kahn.

"Me? You feel that you cannot control me?" Kahn said. He felt disrespected by his uncle, and took his lack of trust as a personal challenge. "Fine. Send someone else with us and slow us down. But like General Odsa, I am warning you uncle. This is not a good idea. I have everything under control."

"Do not threaten me young one!" Geng said, anger and rage boiling. "You still need to remember your place in this society. I am your superior and I will still be making the final decisions. For you insolence, I will be assigning General Darv _and_ General Midor to go with you. They both have hands on experience and will be able to monitor your every movement for me. I do wish you good luck nephew." Geng stood straight and looked at Kahn who, by this point, was fuming. "Go and prepare yourself for the task at hand. Report to me whenever you have landed and wiped out whatever humans are there on the planet." Kahn whipped himself around and forced his way through the Annihilators behind him. The orange light turned off, and Geng was once more alone in his personal quarters. He did not move from the spot he was in, for what seemed like an eternity. He put his hands behind his back and closed his eyes.

Thoughts of human worlds burning along side of Asari, Turian, and worlds from every other race, brought his mind at ease. He had been waiting years for this moment, 75 to be exact. "_75 years_," Kahn thought to himself. Much like the Asari, Anahaus could live well over 100 years, sometimes two or three hundred. Kahn was nearing 100 years old himself, and the majority of his life has been spent with one thought on his mind. Death to all those who were not the Anahaus. Growing up, Geng was trained that all those who were not Anahaus were not true beings and did not deserve the air they breathed. The Anahaus forged their people through blood and war, and that is how Geng wanted to rule his people.

He turned back around and looked back out at Vert and its skyline. This was the home of his people, and he wanted to make sure that his people had a home world that they could be proud of. And now their empire was stretching throughout the galaxy, to different star systems and different planets. They were beginning to carry out the vision that he has for his people. A vision that his people would finally take what he considered their rightful spot; at the top of the galaxy, looking down as the rest of the galaxy burns underneath their superiority.

One day it will all come together for them. But this is where it all was to begin…


	13. Collision Course

-I am going to make this with the least amount of confusion, and I am hoping that everything comes out clear at the end of the chapter. As always, BioWare owns all, and please read and review-

**Kahn's Moment**

Kahn stood on the bridge of the Anahaus warship rightfully named _Bloodlust_. It was one of the largest ships the Anahaus had created, and has enough firepower to match a Turian frigate if need be. He felt an extreme amount of pride rush through him as he stood and looked out at the stars from the main windows. Calypso had been the only home he had ever known, and now he was getting the chance to explore the galaxy. It was a much bigger place than he had expected it to have been. He allowed his youth to take a hold of him as he looked out at the stars in awe and amazement. They all looked the same, yet all shined so differently.

The journey from Calypso to this human world had not been long, but he was forced to spend much of his time with Generals Darv and Midor, trying to finalize all of the plans they had set. There was not much to this attack though. The human colony was young and had yet to really establish itself. That made it prime for such an attack, an attack that Kahn still believed he could have led himself.

He stopped and took a deep breath. His uncle was right about his youthfulness and his pride. He was still learning how to be a leader of his people, and how to fight the way the Anahaus had fought for many years. He would use this time to learn from Darv and Midor, and do his best to not let something happen to them like it did to General Odsa. Geng was already angry enough at his top generals death, so Kahn swore to himself that he would ensure none of the other Grand Generals were going to be killed. Failure to do so however, could result in his own death.

Finally, after a couple hours of waiting and preparing for this mission, the human colony came into sight. Through the main windows, Kahn could see the planet off in the distance. It looked like a small greenish-blue spec against a solid black back drop, but the closer they got to it, the more it began to take shape. Landmasses and bodies of water began to come through clearer to his eyes, and to those were with him on the bridge. The planet was a beautiful sight to behold and it was young by the looks of it. Evolution had barely gotten its grasp on this world and was slowly forming it into the planet that it was intended to be.

Kahn folded his massive arms across his muscular chest and watches as the pilots of the ship began to adjust their course with one that would suit them for landing on the planet. Darv and Midor, if they were true to their word, would be down in the bowels of the ship, preparing the Annihilators for the drop down onto the planet. They would all be put into a shuttle, that was built specifically for their impressive weight and size. Darv, Midor and himself would take a separate shuttle down just a few moments after the Annihilators leave the _Bloodlust_.

From what reports they had received by scouts, this should be a fairly easy operation with no casualties to any of the Anahaus. Even though dying in battle was something that was considered to be an honor by the Anahaus race, Kahn wanted to ensure that none of his men were going to be lost in a fight against a pathetic world like this one. The humans here had very few resources and per the reports, were no where near defended like the other human colonies were. This gave Kahn the advantage. The Annihilators would be able to swoop down and clear himself and the other two generals a path to greatness.

"General Kahn," came Darv's voice throughout the ships communication systems. "It is time you joined myself and Midor down in hangar. We will be dropping the Annihilators once we breach the planet's atmosphere." Kahn offered up no reply and simply began to make his way down to the hangar.

Anahaus ships were not complex in their design. They did not focus on having elaborate looking ships, only ones that were strong enough to withstand a lengthy firefight and that could destroy half an armada if need be. The _Bloodlust_ was one of the faster ships in the Anahaus fleet, capable of outperforming any ship in the galaxy. But, there was one ship that Kahn did want to see it square off with; the _Normandy_. Kahn and Geng had spent many years studying the human vessel and trying to understand why it was such an idol in the eyes of many humans. Their obsession with Shepard and his ship led to the construction of the _Bloodlust_ and other ships just like it. Kahn secretly hoped that he would get the chance to one day lead the _Bloodlust_ against Shepard and his ship. It would be the crowning achievement of his life, if he could be the one to have killed the great Shepard.

A few moments later and Kahn was down in the hangar, watching members of the crew run around haphazardly, trying to finish preparing the soldiers going down onto the planet. The vast majority of the crew were Anahaus, but some were Salarians, Batarians, even one or two Turians. They had all been taken captive by the Anahaus and were promised life and freedom in exchange for hard labor. Freedom was never given to them though. Many of them died by various ways before they could even think about freedom. Punishment was the most common way for their slaves to die, next to a lack of food and nutrition. But when the occasional slave would reach the required amount of time served and deserved the freedom they were promised, they were taken to a quiet place on a ship or planet and killed instantly. Geng called it 'tying up lose ends'. It was a human phrase that was unfamiliar to Kahn.

"Kahn!" Darv shouted. Kahn marauded over to the other General and stood by his side. Of the Grand Generals, Kahn hated Darv the least. But he still hated him. Hated him for being who he was and how he thought of Kahn.

"Yes General," Kahn said, stopping his train of thought.

"I want you to know Kahn that unlike the others, I do not have any feelings of malice towards you," Darv said unexpectedly. "General Odsa, not to surprisingly, was the one who led the campaign of hate towards you. With him being at Geng's right hand, we had very little choice but to keep our mouths shut. But now that he is dead, there is no one that can cause you to falter except for yourself. Like we have told you many times, you are young and brash. That can cause you to think irrationally and make decisions based on a whim. You will have to learn how to approach situations tactically and if need be, use your instincts, based on the training you received.

"You are the first of your kind. You are an Annihilator. And Lord Geng has seen fit to put you above everyone else in the Anahaus army, including himself. He may not show it, but he does what he can to try and protect his nephew." Darv paused for a quick second. "That being said, all of our soldiers and now the new Annihilators will be looking to you for guidance Kahn. You will be the one they look to when they feel that Geng is no long leading them effectively." Kahn pondered on Darv's words, and they were making sense to him. "There will come a day Kahn when Geng will no longer be able to lead our people. It will be then when you must decide for yourself one of two things. Do you want to fight for your uncle's legacy, or fight for your own." Darv walked away without even looking at Kahn.

_"Maybe the old fool is right,"_ Kahn thought to himself. _"I want to live out a legacy of my own."_ Kahn quickly shook his head and cleared his mind of such thoughts. Trying to have a legacy would mean that he would have to kill his uncle, something that no Anahaus had been able to do for many years. It was then everything became clear to Kahn. All of these years of being underneath the scrutiny of his uncle, and learning how to fight the way he wanted him to learn all became clear now. Kahn was like no other Anahaus, he was different. He was better, and bigger than all of the other Anahaus, something that had never occurred to him until now. One day his uncle would need a successor. And why should it not be him?

**Meeting Part 1**

Ashley Williams stood out in the Presidium, breathing the artificial air and looking out onto the lake that was used to help beautify the landscape. Two years since she remembered seeing these trees burning, and the lake in the Presidium littered with a couple of dead bodies, floating in it. Saren and his army of Geth and Krogan had demolished this now peaceful scene. They had rebuilt the statue of the Krogan that was erected in the Presidium, to have it once again serve as a reminder of the Krogan who fought against the Rachni many years ago.

Captain Riley Richardson stood next to her. He was even more handsome in the artificial light and his Alliance uniform, than he did naked and in the dark. He was nearly a foot taller than she was, something that was almost irrelevant in their previous nights engagement. And of course now he shaved off the stubble that was on his face, various parts of her body were rubbed a little red from it.

They were both in their dress apparel, she was in a blue skirt that went down to her knees, a tan pair of hosiery, a very nice pair of heels, and a blue jacket that covered up a white blouse. Outside of the jacket were the awards and medals that she had received over the years of working for the Alliance. The one she was most proud of was the one she had received for being a part of the Eden Prime War, and hunting down the traitor Saren. Of course there were others that she was fond of as well, but she felt differently about the Eden Prime War medal she had received. Riley was dressed almost identical to her, except for the skirt. He wore blue slacks and had on a blue jacket with a white shirt and tie underneath it. She was a little surprised to see that she had a few more medals and ribbons of accomplishment than he had, but of course she made no mention of it.

She brushed her hands across her skirt, which made her very uncomfortable, and tried to smooth it out. She preferred to have been in combat armor with a gun strapped on her hip. This was a different battle zone though, one that was one with words and speeches and not bullets.

"I hope you are ready to go soon," Riley said. "I am sure that your friend the Councilor is getting very impatient." Ashley sighed and stood up straight, wanting to make sure that she looked as presentable as she could.

"I am sorry for not feeling very secure in these clothes," Ashley said. "But I am trying the best I can to make myself look halfway decent."

With a sly grin Riley asked, "And what is it you do feel comfortable wearing Operations Chief?" He put his hand on her lower back, trying to act suave and cool.

"My armor Captain Richardson," she snapped back with quickly. She reached up to her head and let her jet black hair down from its bun, and flow just below her shoulders. She used her fingers to try and comb out any tangles that may have been in it and looked at Riley. "So, how do I look?"

He offered up a smile and replied, "You look amazing Miss Williams. The crown jewel of the Alliance to say the least." He was trying to hard to make her smile, but Ashley liked it. Riley had been a real gentleman the last couple of days and she felt like she owed it to him to bring him along with her to this meeting. After all, he was an Alliance Captain, and if the Councilor needed her to go on a mission, she could use his ship. She instantly felt bad for feeling like she was using Riley, but that was not the case. If she was using him for anything, it was definitely the sex.

"Thank you," she said, giving him a little curtsey. "We better get going." The two walked to an elevator that took them up one of the many stories on the Presidium and stopped, not even 10 seconds later. It was one of the fastest elevator rides Ashley had in a long while. She grinned to herself when she thought of the conversations with Shepard and Alenko on their elevator rides from the docks to C-Sec and all over the Citadel. Kaiden would tell of his biotic implants, and Ash would tell stories of her family and their history in the Navy. Shepard would normally try to keep things focused on the mission, but occasionally he would talk about his parents, and growing up bouncing from space station to space station.

"Did the councilor ever tell you what it was he wanted?" Riley asked, causing her to snap out of her stroll down memory lane.

It took a second but she was able to reply. "No. But from how is message was worded, it sounded like he could have another outreach mission for me to go on. But with Anderson, there is no telling."

"And you are sure that it is okay that I am coming along with you right?" Riley asked.

"No," she said in a monotone. "But that doesn't mean that I can't bring you anyways. I am a big girl and if I feel like I want to bring someone along with me then damn it I can do it." Riley smiled, admiring her spunk an rebelliousness. She was a piece of work, but there was something about her that he liked.

After a few seconds of going back and forth between admiration and lust for the Operations Chief, Riley fell a few paces behind her. He took a couple long strides and tried to keep up with her pace, but she walked quickly. Another moment later and they both found themselves in the office of Councilor David Anderson. The former Captain of the _Normandy_, and one of humanities heroes. He stood up from his desk and looked at Ashley and the man she had accompanying her. He frowned when he made eye contact with him and looked back at Ashley.

"I figured that my message was clear enough and that I wanted you to come alone," Anderson said.

"I did not get that from your message at all Councilor," Ashley retorted back with. "Riley here is a friend of mine and I simply brought him with me for a meeting with an old friend. Surely you could understand that."

"Indeed," Anderson said curtly. "David Anderson." He said offering his hand. "I am the representative of humanity on the Galactic Council."

"Captain Riley Richards of the _SSV Shanghai_," Riley said shaking the Councilors hand firmly.

"I have heard good things about the _Shanghai_," Anderson said before sitting down behind his desk. He tried to watch how the Captain and Operations Chief interacted with each other as they sat down. This relationship was surely a little more than something plutonic, but he was in position to judge. Williams was more than free to live her life however she seemed necessary, but he did not want to see a fellow man being used because a woman was offering him 'benefits'. But again, that was none of his concern, now was it the reasoning behind this meeting. Although he wanted to meet with Ashley alone, this captain could be useful to him. His relationship with Williams could make using him all the easier. It went against what he just thought about Ashley not two seconds ago, but these were more pressing matters.

"I made sure to come and meet you as you had requested Councilor," the Operations Chief said. Ashley remembered the first time she had met Councilor Anderson. At the time he was the man in charge of the _Normandy_, and the Geth had just touched down on Eden Prime. Fast forward two years and now he was sitting as humanities intergalactic voice.

"I appreciate the expediency," Anderson said. "I have a couple other interested parties joining us today, but until they arrive then it will be just the three of us." Ashley nodded and crossed her legs, getting comfy in the seat she was in. "The first talking point of this meeting has to do with something that Commander Shepard has discovered." Inside Ashley felt many different and conflicting emotions. She was curious about what Christian could have found, angry about how he never contacted her, and a little happy to hear his name. She had loved him. And those feelings never truly go away.

"What has he found?" Riley asked, leaning forward and placing his elbows on his knees.

Anderson paused for a moment and tried to think about how he wanted to explain everything to them. "From what I have read over the past day, Shepard has discovered a relatively unknown race of sentient beings known as the Anahaus." He quickly surveyed both of their faces to see if the mention of the Anahaus name brought out any reaction from them. "Shepard came to a couple of days ago, going on about a message that he had received. It was from a Salarian doctor, claiming to be held captive on the planet. He said that he was one of many Salarians that were there, breeding an army of Anahaus."

"Breeding them for?" Riley asked. His question was not out of ignorance, but merely needing confirmation for what he already thought." Anderson simply nodded as a reply. "How are they doing this? Are they continually forcing females to have sex with males, and then speed up their races' gestation period?"

"They are cloning an army," Anderson said. He was able to hide the irritation in his voice. "Shepard was able to rescue the doctor from the Anahaus, and Joker forwarded to me a great deal of information about the species. They are an amazing race of creatures. Not as intelligent as a Salarian, but they are stronger than a Krogan and, if they continue cloning, could have an army the size of which have never been seen."

"If they aren't smart then how are they…?" Ashley's question trailed off as she finally was able to answer it in her own mind.

Anderson answered he unfinished question, "The Salarians. From what Dr. Corson had reported, Salarian hands are just the right size necessary to work on the small cells and genes and all of that technical jargon." Anderson pulled out the OSD that had all of the information about Shepard's mission and the Anahaus on it, and placed in his projector's hard drive. The lights in the office dimmed down and the projector lit up the wall that was next to them.

"What are you showing us Councilor?" asked Williams. She shifted a little in the seat so she could see the wall without straining her neck.

"Shepard," replied Anderson. The camera was moving around intensely as if someone was running with it. Then the camera shifted down and could see someone's feet. The viewpoint was from either a visor or helmet, and it must have been worn by Shepard. He looked up and the _Normandy_ came into view and was getting bigger and bigger each passing second. Underneath it she saw a huge, monster of a creature with a pistol in one hand and Joker screaming in the other. Shepard looked to his right and they were able to see a wounded crew member. Anderson told them that he never made it.

What happened next brought back memories to Ashley. Shepard was able to free Joker from the grasp of what she assumed to be an Anahaus and tried to fight him all by himself. He hadn't changed much from the battles against Saren. The Anahaus kicked Shepard's ass though. Seeing him get almost destroyed by the creature was hard to watch, but she found comfort in seeing the bullets fly in and Shepard shooting the beat square in the face. She didn't recognize the Krogan that picked Shepard up off of the ground and carry him down into the infirmary. She did recognize Dr. Chakwas though, and Garrus who was showing an immense amount of concern for Shepard.

There was another face that she did not recognize either. The woman had brown hair that went down to her a little past her shoulders, and a fair complexion. She was, by all accounts and standards, beautiful. Ashley felt a little jealousy when she watched as the woman leaned down and kissed Christian's forehead before removing the visor and turning off the camera. Anderson sat there for a moment and waited before he continued on.

"Shepard and his crew have stumbled upon a race of war driven and bloodthirsty creatures," Anderson said. "Dr. Corson explained in his part of the report that the Anahaus Shepard killed was one of their top Generals. This could have horrible political implications if they were to ever put together that Shepard has been reinstated as an Alliance marine."

"The Alliance took him back?" Ashley asked quickly. Anderson was curious as to why that was all she got from what he had just said. He figured that the possibility of an angry race of aliens possibly retaliating against humanity would have her concerned. Instead her only concerns were over Shepard and whether or not he was part of the Alliance.

"His job was offered back to him," Anderson said. "The Council and I thought that it was in the best interest for humanity and the Alliance to have one of our top soldiers back within our ranks." He pulled the OSD out and the lights slowly turned back on as the projector shut down. "I am concerned about what may have been started here, and the political repercussions that could ultimalty come from it. If what the doctor has reported is true and we did kill a top general in the Anahaus army then I am concerned for humanity and the Alliance, and more importantly, the Council. We have never had contact with this race of people before and now we have killed one of them."

"From what the video showed, he killed one of Shepard's crew members first!" Riley said, getting a little fired up.

"Reports indicate that Shepard's crew member fired upon the Anahaus first," Anderson said back. "The Anahaus was simply studying Joker before the man, Ken Donnelly, came out and thought Joker was in trouble. He died trying to protect Joker, at least that is what he thought he was doing."

Ashley shook her head, "I am confused then Councilor. What does this have to do with me?" Anderson folded his hand and placed them on the desk in front of him.

"I am glad you asked," Anderson said. "I need you to be assigned on a special mission, one this is somewhat like your mission on Horizon. There is not a whole lot involved in it, but I know you are the right person for the job."

"Of course Councilor," she said. "I have been thinking about getting back into the swing of things here lately anyways. What are the mission details?"

Anderson smiled. "Well you see that is where things are going to get a little complicated for everyone." Ashley's stare went right through the Councilor, as if she knew exactly what it was he was going to ask her.

"No," she said.

"No?" he cocked his head slightly.

"No!"

"I need a better answer than no Chief."

"How about 'hell no'?" she said. She folder her arms underneath her breasts and leaned back in the chair. "I know what it is you are going to ask of me and I will not do it. You are going to ask me to somehow be able to rejoin up with the _Normandy_ and work with Commander Shepard. You are going to ask me fight next to him if these creatures decide to turn hostile against humanity."

"Listen to me Williams," Anderson said. "All of this is bigger than your past relationship with Shepard. What we have potentially done is started something with an unknown and hostile race. We will need to utilize all of our resources if this turns into some kind of war. You need to put Shepard behind you, and remember that you are still fighting for humanity and the Alliance."

Ashley knew he was right, but there was still something that was holding her back, and not letting her go about this. Why should she have to go and fight along side of Christian again? No matter what she did to try and get herself away from him, he kept on coming back in her life in some weird way. Some mention of his name on the news, or now with Anderson asking her to go back and be part of the _Normandy_ crew again. She couldn't do it.

"If it makes the Chief more comfortable," Riley said. "And if it is okay with you Councilor, I would like to volunteer myself to go along with her and offer my ship back to the Alliance. They can find another captain who is just as willing to fly her as I am."

Anderson pondered this for a moment, while Ashley turned to look at him.

"Don't try to think that you are some white knight coming in to rescue what seems to look like a damsel in distress," Ashley said. "If I wanted to go on this, which I don't," she managed to throw at Anderson. "Then I would have said yes. And I can do it all on my own. I am a big girl and can take care of myself."

"You were always stubborn weren't you Ash?" a man said. But this was not just any other man.

-The next chapter will have the conclusions to both parts of these concurrent stories, and possibly a little verbal cat fight. Please review. Cheers-


	14. Ramifications

-This may be my last update for about 6 months. I am going to be going away to Basic Training and AIT in about 2 weeks, and will be back in August. I want to be able to finish it when I come back. Thanks to all for reading this-

**Meeting Part 2**

At first everything was calm between everyone in Anderson's office. Miranda was standing behind Commander Shepard, occasionally rubbing his shoulders. Her touch was nice, but Shepard was too focused on the task at hand. The biggest distraction was Ashley sitting not 5 feet from him. Her hair was not in a bun, something that he had not seen her do in a long time, and she was in her formal Alliance uniform. She was very forceful in the way she told Anderson that she did not want to rejoin the _Normandy_. She did act a little surprised when he told her that it was Shepard who wanted her rejoin his crew, and not someone higher up in the Alliance. But that may have made it a little harder on her to take in.

Shepard wished he could roll the back the clock and handle their encounter on Horizon better but despite how far humans had made it in terms of technology, rolling back the clock was not an option. Had it not been for their meeting on Horizon, he never would have taken notice of Miranda, so in a weird way he thanked Ashley.

"I understand why the Commander would want me back on his ship, but I am telling you that I do not want to go," Ashley said. "It has nothing to do with personal feelings past or present. I feel that it would be best for the both of us if we were not on the same ship together." Christian hated how she talked about him like he was not even there. It was a respect thing to him. Regardless of how he felt about her now, he still respected her abilities and thought that maybe she would be able to do the same.

"Chief," Shepard said. "We respect your feelings but all personal feelings aside, we could use someone with your talent and knowledge on our ship. Surely this could transcend anything that may have happened between you and I."

"I don't give a damn about who are involved with Shepard," she said, trying not to look up at Miranda. "You worked with Cerberus, the enemy. Two years ago we mocked them as we went about the galaxy killing many of their operatives. Don't you remember that? I was there with you when we found Toombs. Cerberus had turned him in a neurotic mess, all in the name of humanity."

"Cerberus brought me back to life and gave me a second chance to save everyone in this galaxy from the Reapers," Shepard retorted. "Regardless of how I feel about their organization or The Illusive Man, I owed it to them for giving me my life back."

Williams shook her head and looked at him. "They used you to fight the Collectors and as a tool for whatever games they wanted to get done. They never cared for you at all Shepard. You were a pawn."

"The Commander was never a pawn to Cerberus," Miranda said, no longer able to hold her tounge. "In order to pursue those who were abducting human colonies we needed the best, and that was Commander Shepard. It took two years of very rigorous days of work to finally bring him back from the dead but we did it. And it was a worthy investment."

"My point," Williams said. "Cerberus needed you Shepard. They used their resources to bring you back so you could do their work for them. And you did it! Despite knowing exactly what it is they are striving for…"

"You do not know Cerberus," Miranda said angrily. "Do not act like you understand what went on at Cerberus. We worked wonders with children and adults in order to preserve humanities place in this galaxy. I am not saying that everything I did while working for Cerberus was morally justified but we always had humanities progression in our sights. You of all people should understand why we did such things Chief Williams."

"I don't follow," Ashley said.

"We know how you feel about aliens Williams," Miranda said. "Your prejudice towards them would have made you into a fine operative."

"I am nothing like you," Ashley said standing to her feet. Shepard knew that look on her face; she was pissed. "Despite how I feel about aliens and other species, I would never have been able to aligned myself with an organization like Cerberus."

"Cerberus believed that humanity deserves a great role in the galaxy," Miranda said as she folded her arms across her chest. "We did what was needed to give humanity that extra push."

"Look at what we did two years ago," Ashley said. "We defeated Saren and thousands of humans risked their lives to try and defeat him. Now we have a position of power on the Council, and finally have a say in galactic politics."

"I am not trying to question Christian's motives or actions, but those thousands of lives were sacrificed to save a trio of superficial, power hungry councilors who looked down upon humanity until Shepard gave them a reason to think otherwise," said Miranda. "They only agreed to put a human on the Council, because of the Commander's heroism."

"I disagree with you," Ashley said.  
"Of course you would," Miranda shot back with. "The Alliance is to concerned with playing political grab ass that it tends to overlook the bigger picture. Humanity the Council's new favorite pet and we will do anything just have our bellies rubbed." She turned her attention to Anderson. "Whose to say that the Council has not even been completely upfront with you Councilor. I would almost be willing to say that had it not been for Shepard and…" She acted like she did not want to finish the statement. "Miss Williams here, then you would not have your position of power.

"At Cerberus we saw the bigger picture," she continued. "We strived to push humanity forward but knew that the political bull shit needed to be left at the front door. We did things that the Alliance could have only dreamed of, and they labeled us a terrorist group."

"Because of the murders and inhumane ways you went about your definition of 'progress'," Ashley said. There was a harshness in her voice. "The Alliance has made great strides in the last two years and I would like to thin that it was because of what the crew of the original _Normandy_ did against Sovereign."

"And the Council quickly turned and said that Saren was working alone and that the Reapers are not the real threat," Miranda said matter-of-factly. "The 'official' report blamed the war on Saren and the Geth, not the Reapers like it should have been. And because they blamed it solely on Saren, they sent out you and your crew to destroy small pockets of Geth resistance. Had they not ordered the _Normandy_ to do so then, well I think you know when I am going with this."

Anderson shook his head. "You cannot blame Shepard's death on the Alliance or the Council. No one could have known that he was going to be attack by the Collectors. To pit that on us is something that you cannot do."

"If anything Cerberus owes you for it," Miranda said. "We were able to bring Shepard back from the dead and he helped us stop the Collectors. And if it wasn't for him, I never would have had my eyes open to how evil Cerberus is." Ashley gave her a confused look. "The Illusive Man wanted Shepard to keep the Collector base to research and run tests, and use to fight the Reapers. Christian knew that the galaxy would have been better off without the base, so we blew it straight to hell. When The Illusive Man wanted to keep that monstrosity, I knew that Cerberus was no longer where I needed to be. They had given me all that I needed and I realized that my future lied elsewhere." She turned and smiled at Shepard.

"I am having trouble figuring you out," Riley finally said. "From what I know, Cerberus has done some pretty dastardly things, and then when The Illusive Man wants to keep what could be a great source of technology, you up and quit. It seems like you would have quit years ago."

"I owed a lot to them," Miranda said, trying to answer his question without giving out to much information. "I was blind to a lot of their dealings, and I was able to justify it by saying that we were trying to promote humanity. But when I saw what had happened in the Collector base and the lives that were lost, I had a revelation. Not to mention how Shepard was able to gain the loyalty of various species in the universe.

"The Illusive Man had this vision of humanity standing above the rest of the galaxy. But when I saw Shepard gain the loyalty of his team that had a Turian, a Quarian, a Drell, amongst others, and bring them together to fight a common enemy then I knew that Cerberus was wrong. I believe that Cerberus had the best of intentions, but they went about everything the wrong way." Ashley began to speak but Miranda quickly cut her off. "But, the Alliance is going about the wrong way as well. Politics and kissing the ass of those above you will not get you what you want. It will make you the lapdog that the Council views us as."

"That is where you are wrong," Anderson said. "I may not know much about the political arena, but I have done my best to bring parity between humanity and the rest of the Council races. Despite the best efforts of myself and Shepard, they are still a little skeptical of us." The room went quiet for a second as Ashley sat back down in her chair. "But this was not why we are all here. The Anahaus. We need to discuss this situation, before it turns into something much bigger."

"I am not sorry that my crew members killed the Anahaus I was fighting," Shepard finally said after a long period of silence. "Ken made a mistake by not listening to Joker when he told him to go away but he tried to save a member of the crew and died in doing so."

"You killed a top General in their ranks Shepard," Anderson said. "The fallout from this could potentially be catastrophic. I hope you are prepared for what could come out of this."

"I have faced many things in the last few years Anderson," Shepard said. "I even died once remember. There is not anything that I cannot handle." Lying was not one of his strong suits, but he had a great poker face. There was something that he could not handle. The fear of failure. Losing Ken meant that their mission to rescue Dr. Corson was both a failure and a success. Just like the mission on Virmire when Kaiden died. And just like when his entire unit was wiped out on Akuze.

"This is bigger than you Shepard," Anderson stated. "I got a message this morning from the Council. They want to meet with us Commander and discuss this pressing issue. And as much as I hate to do this, I will go ahead and bring everyone here with me to see them. I want them to see former Cerberus operatives united with those in the Alliance. Humanity is strong and we will show them that."

"When are meeting with them?" Shepard asked.

Anderson stood up from his seat and clasped his hands behind his back. "Now."

**Kept In The Dark**

No matter how many times Christian Shepard stood in front of the Council, it always seemed like a daunting task. They were made to come across as larger than life demigods who ruled over all of those in Council space. That brought in a damn good intimidation factor that they used quite frequently. But Shepard had proved that he was not to be intimidated. Whenever they pushed him, he pushed back just as hard. Anderson was beginning to act the same way, but he could only push so hard and so often due to his position.

"Commander Shepard," the Asari said. She was the one that Shepard liked the most out of the three. She came across as the one who was the more receptive to humanity. "We asked you to be here today because we have learned about you recent encounter with the race known as the Anahaus."

"We have read your recent mission report to the planet known as Calypso," the Turian said. "We are sorry for the loss of your crew member, but we regret to inform you that while a human was killed in the encounter so was a very important member of their military."

"It sounds to me like you are trying to make Ken's death seem less insignificant because he was just someone who was an engineer on a frigate and not an important figure in society," Shepard shot back with.

"That is not the case at all Commander," the Salarian said, coming to the aid of his fellow councilor. "And we are not saying it was not important because he was a human. We are saying that the political ramifications will be greater because of who he was." The Salarian paused and changed subjects. "However, on behalf of the entire Salarian community, we thank you for rescuing Dr. Corson."

"I am glad to have helped," Shepard said. "But I am curious as to why the STG never got involved in this. Or possibly a Salarian SPECTRE. They seem to me like the best candidates to have resolved this situation before now."

"At first the disappearances of Salarians were very sporadic," he replied. "Much like any other person going missing, it was looked into but of course not much came of it. Then a couple of doctors and scientists disappeared as well and of course our interest was certainly piqued. We were making a lot of headway in trying to find out who was behind the abductions and then the Eden Prime War broke out two years ago and it became the focal point of most in the galaxy.

"We were able to benefit, if I may, from the way and push harder to try and find our missing doctors. Captain Kirrahe led a vast amount of our forces along side of you Commander on Virmire when you were investigating the plant that Saren had built." Memories popped into his head, and the pain of having to leave Kaiden behind began to come back to him. "Eventually, the majority of those who were on the project forgot about it after the Citadel was attacked. But when we found out that you had received a distress call from one of the Salarians who was captured, we knew that we had to delve deeper into this situation. And we were shocked when heard who was behind all of this."

"The Anahaus are a race that we do not take lightly," the Asari said.

Anderson stepped forward. "How is it that you know about them? They seem like the type of race that wants to remain secluded from the rest of the galaxy." All three of the Councilors looked at each other for a moment and then back down at the humans.

"Many years ago," the Asari said. It was such a clichéd beginning to a story but yet it came across in a very powerful way to Shepard. "The Anahaus were considered for an embassy here on the Citadel. We saw them as a very fragile race that was quickly dying off. So we extended out our hand of compassion towards them and tried our best to give them resources and the means in which to try and prosper once more.

"Just like you humans, they had come in contact with a Prothean ruin and were able to study their technology. But as you may have noticed, they are not as brilliant as many of the species out there." Shepard scoffed at her in his head. They had to be smart to be able to do some of the things that he had seen them do.

"We sent representatives to them and helped them develop their technologies into what they have now. At first they were very receptive and gracious of our help," the Turian said. "They welcomed us with open arms and learned very quickly from us. It was almost like trying to teach a child to walk. But at the first chance they got, they took off running."

"They wanted to do more than what we would allow them to do," the Asari said, taking control of the conversation once more. "They became obsessed with trying to build up their population and would not listen when we told them that it would take time before they could be close to regaining what they had."

"That explains the cloning facilities we found on Calypso," Shepard said. "I am willing to bet that there are more facilities, and possibly more planets out there just like it."

"We have sanctions put on such things like cloning," the Salarian said. "When we tried to warn them about how we would react if they were going to begin such illegal experiments, they turned on us and almost broke out in a rebellion. Peaceful terms, if that is what you would like to call it, were agreed on and they lost their bid for an embassy here on the Citadel."

"Once we lost contact with them, they were wiped from many of our history texts and spoken of only in the darkest corridors of the Citadel," the Asari said once more. "That is why you have probably never heard of them Commander."

"There is a former STG operative on my crew named Mordin Solus," Shepard commented. "He seemed to know a great deal about them."

"Being a former STG operative then it makes sense," the Salarian said. "He would have access to records and files that normally others would not have access to." Shepard nodded in agreement. As a SPECTRE he could do things that no ordinary human or other member of any army in Council space could do. He could make the decision to kill someone during a mission or let them live. Such a power tended to be overwhelming, but he always felt that he did the SPECTREs justice with out he conducted his missions.

"What else is there that I do not know about?" Anderson asked. He felt like the Councilors had been hiding this from him. Until this point that had no reason to tell him about it, but that made him wonder if there were any other secrets that he had yet to uncover about the galaxy.

"If there was anything Councilor," the Turian said. "We would not be able to tell you in an open forum such as this. However, you have the ability to access the same archives and documents that we do. If you feel you need to research things, you are more then welcome to do so."

"If you knew that they were going to be attempting to clone in order to spark life back into their species, why did you not swoop in and try to stop them?" Shepard asked.

"As we told you," the Asari said. "When they were banished from the Citadel, they were still years away from having the required technology."

"Like I said earlier," the Turian butted in. "They tried to learn things quicker than we believed they had the mental capacity to take in. We had to treat them childlike at times when they were feeling slighted."

"And now it looks like they are getting smarter due to the help from the Salarians they had kidnapped," Miranda threw in.

"_They won't admit it but they made a mistake_," Shepard thought to himself. They did not keep a close enough eye on the Anahaus and tried to play them off as a nu sense and not a threat. Now there was a race of beings that was thought to have been kept under wraps, cloning and creating an army.

"We understand the concern you all share," said the Asari. "There will be steps taken to deal with this problem. We will try to find a diplomatic solution to this problem. It will be hard though, considering the death of their general." Again they touched on it. Every time someone mentioned the death of that big furry bastard, it made Ken's death seem insignificant. "For now Commander Shepard, we request that you and your crew remain on stand by until further notice. We will be contacting you in the future when we need you once more."

_When we need you_. They might as well have kicked him in the groin. He and his crew were too valuable to the Alliance and Council to just be sitting around and twiddling their thumbs. But he remembered Ken. Rushing into something without a lot of knowledge had already cost one of his crew member's their life, and he was not going to let it happen again.

"Now if there is nothing else that needs to be addressed then we will adjourn this meeting and be in contact with you," the Asari said. No one spoke. All three of the Councilors touched the pads in front of them and the lights around their meeting area dimmed. The group of humans turned and walked down the set of stairs behind them. No one spoke still until they had reached the bottom of the stairs.

"So what do we do?" Riley asked, finally breaking the silence. There was another long pause as everyone seemed to be sorting out what to do in their heads.

"As mush as I hate to say it, we made need to heed what the Council has said," Anderson said. "Right now we know nothing about the Anahaus. It may be in our best interest to learn more about them before we decide to go in and shoot up the place."

"COUNCILOR!" cried out a young man. The group turned and saw the young man running towards them. He almost tripped over himself, trying to get to the Councilor. "Councilor we have a problem!" He finally made it up to Anderson and bent over slightly, trying to catch his breath.

"What the hell is it?" Anderson asked.

The boy looked up at Anderson. "Egeos….under…attack!"

**Egeos**

_An hour before_

Egeos was still in the earliest stages of development. Only one town had been created so far, while the other pioneers were spread out in an equal distance around the center part of the colony, building refineries and slowly exploring the rest of the planet. It had only been a little over a year since the colonization had been approved by the Alliance and ships were sent out. The Alliance had high hopes for the colony.

It had been a quite year for all of the soldiers who were sent to protect Egeos while they were trying to get defense turrets built and operational, especially Lieutenant Gavin Brooks. He was one of the higher ranking officials on the planet, beneath his commanding officer Captain Antonio Martinez.

When Captain Martinez was out at one of the refineries, Gavin was in charge of the happenings around the town. He was not high on the idea of the military running the government, but with this being such a small colony, it would have to do for now. Brooks stared out of the one window in his office and watched as the colonists went about their daily lives. Many of them were probably returning or going to lunch, or heading home for the day.

Even though we he loved his military life, there was still part of Brooks that wished was still one of the civvies. All they had to worry about was work and what was going to be on the table for dinner. The marines stationed here had to ensure the safety of every man, woman, and small child on the colony. It was a daunting task but Gavin did everything that was assigned to him and gave over 100%.

He walked over to an ensign who was sitting behind a monitor and fallen asleep. Gavin shook his head and grabbed the magazine that he man had next to him. He rolled it up and tapped the ensign on the back of the head. The man woke up violently and stood up from his chair when he realized that the LT was standing behind him. Gavin looked right through him, piercing him with his gaze.

"You have one job around here Kennedy," Brooks said. "One damn job. I needed you to sit and watch this monitor like it was a some damn porno. All you needed to do was to keep your eyes fixed right here!" Gavin pointed to the screen. It was a long range scanner that was used to detect if any ships that were not friendly, were coming into the planet's atmosphere. "And you fell asleep. You have let down the people of this colony because you were probably up late last night playing grab ass with some bimbo, and you forgot that you already had a commitment to the Alliance. Do you have anything to say Kennedy?"

"No sir," Kennedy said with his voice cracking. Gavin knew he had scared him.

"Fall asleep again and I swear to you, the repercussions of it will be great," Gavin said. "Do you understand me?" Kennedy nodded and sat back down at the console. Gavin walked away and smiled to himself. That halfwit was never going to fall asleep again when he was in charge. No one else may fall asleep either after that display. Brooks like to make sure that his always made his points very clear and concise, so that no one would ever find a way to misinterpret what he said.

Gavin looked back every few seconds at the young man just to make sure that his scare tactic worked, and indeed it had. Kennedy had his eyes locked on the screen.

Everything was very quiet on Egeos today, like every other day. There was nothing out of the ordinary and nothing that seemed to be different. Everything was fine. There was no one on the outside causing trouble or trying to be mischievous. The marines that had been sent to help the colonization were teaching some of the civilians to work as if they were the local authority. Once they got a good amount of people trained, they would set up a law enforcement regime and begin working towards setting up a government for the planet. Of course there were already rules set in place from the Alliance, but every colony was different and had its own set up rules.

But for now, Captain Martinez had delegated the 'punishment' of what few trivial crimes that took place to some of his subordinates. Even Gavin had to play cop at one point when they a group of older teens trying to smuggle in some Red Sand.

"Uh LT," Kennedy said from the back of the room. Gavin turned away from the window and looked back to the young man.

"What is it son?" he asked walking slowly back to him. Kennedy did not respond. He kept looking at the scanners and radars in front of him, not knowing what to make of what he saw. "Fucking answer me Kennedy! What do you see?"

"Sir I am not sure," he said. "Something is making its way towards the planet and it is moving pretty damn fast. It will be in the planet's atmosphere in less than 5 minutes." His voice began to crack a little bit. Gavin forced him out of the chair, sat down, and looked at the screen. He viewed the screen for a moment, trying to get a grip on what it was he was looking at. It was a ship of some kind, he was sure of it. But to the best of his recollection, there were no ships that were due to the planet for nearly a week maybe longer. Something was not right about this. It was coming in fast and not slowing down at all.

"Sir we tried making contact with the ship but we are getting no reply," one of the other marines said. "They are making no attempt to contact us back."

"Try again damn it!" he hollered. "I want to know what it is, who it is, and why the hell they are here!" He looked back at the radar and saw that the anomaly was getting closer and closer to the colony. "Get Captain Martinez on a line and inform him of what is going on." Brooks stood up from the station and walked outside of the compound. He looked around and the few civilians that were outside with him were looking up in the sky.

He turned his attention upwards and then he saw it. The ship was a sight to behold, bigger than anything he had seen in awhile. It was a dark grey color, at least on the underside. It swooped in low and sent a rush of air that knocked a few people on the ground from the force of it. The alarms around the colony began to go off, causing the civilians in the street to panic and run amok. Gavin ran back into the compound. The marines stood and looked over at him, as if to ask why they were to do next.

Scenarios ran through the head of Brooks as he decided what to do. Martinez was out at the refineries and that put him in charge for the time being. Someone, or something rather, had come to the planet and he was going to make sure that if it was hostile, none of the civilians would get hurt.

"Head down to the armory and grab your gear," he said to them. "We are gonna find out who is here and what they want."

Five minutes passed by and of course Brooks was the first man back up from the armory. He had on his Alliance armor that came with kinetic shields, and the capacity to carry a pistol, shotgun, assault rifle, and sniper rifle that were all collapsed on his hips and back. He paced back and forth outside of the compound, awaiting the return of the small band of marines that were going to be going with him. They all finally began to congregate around him, all prepared to head out to face what could potentially be an unknown enemy.

Brooks and his squad left the inner parts of the city and walked in the direction their scanners were telling them to go. Surrounding the central part of the colony was a wooded area that had the occasional meadow popping up around and providing no cover for the marines.

After a few moments of searching and making their way through the wooded areas of Egeos, the marines came to a clearing. Gavin was at point and put his fist in the air, letting the team know to stop moving. He took another step forward and peered out in front of him. The unknown ship was hovering ominously in the sky. Gavin wasn't quite sure what was going on, but he did not have a good feeling about it. The ship was easily a klik or more away from them and it still seemed so large.

"Lieutenant Brooks this is Captain Martinez," said the husky man's voice over the radios. "Where the hell are you?"

"Sir we are about 2 kliks away from the city," he replied. "I have some men with me and we have a visual on the ship."

"What is it doing?" Martinez asked.

"Right now nothing," he replied. "It is just hanging in the air right now. I can't tell if they have dropped anyone or anything down on the ground yet."

"Keep me post Brooks. I am on my way back into the…." the transmission cut off and all Brooks could hear was static coming into his ear.

"Captain. Captain!" Brooks said. "Captain come in." One of the marines crept up behind him and put his hand on his shoulder.

"Sir? What's going on?" the marine asked. Brooks couldn't believe what he thought to be going on. He did not want to jump to conclusions, but the only thing that he could think of was they were being attacked. But by who? They were still in Council space, albeit barely. So who could it have been? What could it have been?

"Sir?" the marine said once again.

"Damn it leave me alone and let me think," Brooks snapped. He looked back out at the ship. He saw a hatch underneath the ship slowly open up and out from it he could see black shapes jumping out from it. He wasn't quite sure what they were but deep down he knew that he and his marines could be the last defense before they made it to the city.

A million thoughts ran through his head. The young blonde back on the Citadel he never asked out, his sister and her husband, his dad who had Alzheimer's and his mom who took great care of him. He thought about all of the things they had yet to do with the colony, one of them being the defense turrets. Those should have been constructed first, but the thought of someone coming and attacking the colony was far from their minds at the time. He wondered what his men were thinking too. Were they as prepared as he had been when he went through his military training or did they half-ass everything they did. None of it mattered at this point; it was put up or shut up now.

"Get ready boys," Gavin said. He knew these would be the last orders he would ever give this group of marines.


	15. Bloody Day, Silent Night

-It is good to be posting again. The conversation between Shepard and Miranda in the later parts of the chapter are an assumption. I do not recall if at any part of the game they make mention to Shepard's relationship with Ashley other than a conversation with Joker. If I am wrong please let me know and it will be amended. I did research and was unable to find anything. As always BioWare owns all, and enjoy.`

**Bloody Day**

Brooks removed his helmet and wiped some of the sweat that was beading down his face. There had not been any more transmissions from Martinez or anyone else for that matter. The marines with him did not look completely sure about what they were going to be heading out against, but they were ready to follow orders. The only thing was, Brooks did not know what orders to give them. He had last seen the figures jump out of the ship but then they were covered by the trees in the forest. The ship that dropped them off was still looming about above the tree line.

"Alright Marines listen up," Brooks said as he turned around to face the marines. "There is something out there right now and we don't know if it is friendly or not. We have not received any other transmissions from Martinez or anyone else. We are going to investigate who or what has landed on our planet. Do NOT open fire unless you feel like your life is threatened or the life of one of your brothers. We will fan out and try to surround them."

Brooks turned back around and put his helmet back on. He readied his assault rifle and made a couple of hand signals to the marines. They all began to fan out in separate distance from the man next to him and started to move forward. Slowly, they all took a few steps forward and made their way to where the ship had been hovering. Gavin was in point and held his assault rifle up, ready to strike down anything or anyone if they were hostile. Slowly the squad began to break off into two teams, with Brooks leading the first team.

The terrain of Egeos was perfect for hiding and setting up some form of an ambush, and that is what Brooks was hoping he could do here with these marines he had. He personally read through all of their files before hiring them on to join with him as part of the colony's defenses. This allowed him to trust these men with his life, but he did not want it to go that far of course. Maybe these creatures had come here as part of a misunderstanding of some kind, or maybe they were simply animalistic and acting out of fear. Whatever the reason was, Brooks was determined to make sure that if they were hostile he would do the killing before he could be killed.

Nothing in his direct line of sight moved, save the trees from the blowing of the wind. There were no indigenous life forms around, only his marines and whatever the hell had landed here.

He kept his eyes opened and locked as he scanned the area from right to left, hoping that he would be able to see even the slightest of movements. But so far there was nothing, nothing at all. It was almost as if whoever had been dropped here was as easily concealable as he and his marines, who wore special armor to match the Egeos terrain. Either that or they were simply better warriors or hunters that he was.

The thought of that made his stomach curl up inside of him and began to make him slightly sick. Striving to be the best damn soldier you can in life and then realizing that somewhere out in the big universe is someone or something that is better than you is slightly demoralizing, in his eyes at least.

His eyes shifted to a shadow to the right. Quickly he dropped to one knee and held his hand up in the air. The rest of the team followed and brought up their rifles, ready to strike down whatever it was that their leader had seen. Brooks watched the spot he was the shadow intently, not taking his eyes off of it, and not even allowing himself to blink. His heart began to beat faster and faster and he could feel the sweat rolling down his back.

Before anyone could get off a shot, the creature that no one saw attacked from above.

A large furry mammoth landed on the ground, making a loud 'thud' as he did. He had on a large chest plate, armor on his thighs, boots and gauntlets on both hands. On one gauntlet was a blade, the other was a gun of some kind. On his head he wore a helmet, not for protection but possible for show or ritual. With a loud roar that could have shattered an unprotected eardrum, the beast drove his blade into the abdomen of one marine and opened fire on another. His bullets quickly tore through the marines shields and eventually his flesh. Blood and gore quickly marked the ground beneath them.

The remaining marines turned and opened fire on the monster. Their combined firepower was enough to knock his shields out, but before a death blow could be brought a second creature came from above. It looked identical to the other and had a distinct bloodlust look about him.

Brooks fired rapidly at the second creature, hoping to knock out its shields as well, but being one man did little to help. The first one finally fell to the ground dead, allowing the marines to fire upon the second one. He too eventually fell, but not before he took a few lives with him.

The second team was under attack as well by this point, and Brooks could hear them screaming in horror as they were being torn apart by whatever was attacking them. Confusion must have been their attackers ploy, because more of them came from either trees or off in the distance.

Brooks was not one for retreating, but the situation was quickly getting worse and worse for he and his men. They were being literally ripped apart by these beasts, either by blade, bullets, or bare teeth. _"Damn it!"_ He thought to himself. He should have waited back at the base and called for help, but he was over zealous and wanted to figure out what or who was attacking his home planet.

"Get out of the woods and get back to the compound!" Brooks said as he fired off a few rounds at his attackers. The remaining marines acknowledged the order and took off back towards the town. _"What the hell did I just do?"_ Brooks thought. Taking them to the town would lead them to all of the innocent lives that were there. He grabbed a grenade from his belt, primed it, and sat it down by a tree. He and the marines quickly left the area before the explosion went off. _"Maybe that will buy me a little time."_ Brooks thought to himself. He primed second grenade and threw this one behind him.

A good majority of the marines were already ahead of him and running so quickly that he couldn't keep up. As much as he regretted telling them to go to the compound, it would provide them with the best amount of cover and possibly a better position to fight their enemy with.

Gun shots from the enemy still reverberated from behind them. The sounds meant that Brooks was unsuccessful in trying to slow them down before the marines could reach the compound and raise some sort of alarm. He could see the city ahead and could also see some people running around in fear and terror as they saw the gun shots and explosions in the distance. Egeos had never experience something like this before and made it all new to the people who lived there.

Brooks stopped and hid behind a building, allowing his marines to try and take up good fighting positions as well. A long minute passed by before the creatures could once again be seen by Brooks and his men. Brooks closed one eye and aimed at the first one he saw and opened fire on him. It had little effect, only because more of them came charging into the streets.

The marines held their ground the best they knew how to, concentrating fire on one beast at a time. Trying to knock out their shields and hope to bring them down before they could deal anymore death.

"We need to get into the compound and send out a distress message now!" Brooks said to one of the marines. "You two come with me. The rest of you try to hold them here. Do you damndest to not let any of them through!" They all nodded in acknowledgment.

Seconds after giving he orders Brooks and the two marines he selected darted off towards the main compound they were in only 20 minutes before. Gun fire, explosions, and the horrifying shrieks of men being ripped literally apart were coming from behind them and were the driving factor for Brooks running as fast as he did. There was nothing in front of him but space, allowing him to maneuver how he pleased but cautiously as well. Open space meant no cover for him or his men, something that he did not particularly care for.

The three marines made it to the compound and were successful in getting the door opened quickly. They all piled in through the doorway and watched as the door slammed shut. Brooks immediately went to one of the consoles and began to work on a distress signal while the other two marines stood by and watched out the windows.

"Uh Lieutenant they are getting closer," one of the marines said. The creatures were firing at every door they came across and looking inside them all as well. It wouldn't be long before they would be ready to breach the doors of the marine compound.

"Be ready to hold them off boys," Brooks said. He knew that those words really meant, 'I will see you in hell', but he did not have the heart to tell them what they already knew themselves. Instead, he kept typing a distress code and trying to send it out to nearby frigates or anything that was close enough to them that could respond. After a moment of sending electronic messages, Brooks decided to try and send a video one using the camera in his helmet.

He took it off and sat it down on the console and plugged it into the computer, allowing his message to be transmitted to as many Alliance networks as possible, including C-Sec on the Citadel. He shifted his body back a little, and began to record it.

"This is Lieutenant Gavin Brooks of the Alliance Marines," he began. "Egeos has come under attack by an unidentifiable hostile force, one that we have not been able to counteract. They have killed our commanding officer and wiped out nearly all of my marines stationed here. We will not be able to hold them off for much longer." The door exploded open and the two marines standing there screamed in horror as they were mercilessly killed in front of Brooks. He spun his helmet around to face the doorway and grabbed his assault rifle. He let out a loud roar and ran towards their attackers, firing at them until they were able to cut him down. The camera kept recording and sent all of the video to everyone that Brooks specified, allowing them to witness his final moments.

**The Next Step**

The footage stopped playing once the large Anahaus fired what seemed like a concussive shot into the building, causing the recording device to be destroyed and the screen to go fuzzy. Shepard kept his eyes on the screen and inside, thanked Lt. Brooks for his bravery against the Anahaus. Of course now there really was nothing that could be done, the footage was almost an hour old and the Council would most likely not be willing to send ships to aid a small human colony, despite humanity's leaps and bounds recently. All of those humans, dead and gone now. Grieving for people he didn't know wouldn't erase what had happened to them but Shepard couldn't help it.

Once they received word of the attack Anderson took them all back up to his office to view the clip. It was a solemn few moments for everyone. Watching someone sacrifice themselves to try and stop a threat that they knew nothing about was heart wrenching and motivating as well.

"Hopefully now you can see what we are up against," Miranda said to Ashley and Riley. "The Anahaus are animalistic. This is a much bigger problem than any of us thought it was going to be. They have began to amass an army that is set for the destruction of every other race in the universe. We have been able to see what they can do first hand, especially Shepard."

"I never doubted the situation we have here," Ashley said matter-of-factly. "I just do not feel like it is in my best interest to rejoin the crew of the _Normandy_."

"_Not this bullshit again,_" Shepard thought. "Listen Ash, what's done is done and is all in the past now. We cannot go back and change the way our lives have been, but what we can do is set up the future of humanity for success and stop this menace before it gets out of hand. I need someone with your experience and skill on my crew. I petitioned for this. We need you Chief. Humanity needs you."

His words pricked her heart. But she was slightly confused by how he was coming across with it all. Did he really feel that humanity needed her or did he still have some feelings for her? She did not want to get emotionally involved like she did before he died but there was still that something about him, that something that made her fall for him in the first place.

All eyes in Anderson's office were on her, and it was decision time on her part. Riley had already volunteered to go with her, not that it mattered too much but having someone that she had some 'connection' with would be nice. The thought of being alone on a ship with so many memories frightened her a little bit.

"Captain Richardson has volunteered to join your crew as well Shepard," she said. "If I am to come along and rejoin your crew then I would like for him to come with me. We could use another senior Alliance officer onboard. It could be very beneficial to all of us."

"_The rules have to be in her favor don't they?_" Shepard thought to himself, but outwardly he said, "Of course Chief. It would be a pleasure to have the Captain on board. As long as he understands that it is my ship and he is a part of _my _crew."

"It would be an honor Commander Shepard," Riley said. "And I do understand that it is your ship. I will do my best to remain under your command." Shepard couldn't tell if he was being a pompous ass or trying to put on a show for Ashley. He also couldn't tell if she was his flavor of the week, or if he was hers. Either way it didn't matter to him. The regulations that the Alliance had on fraternizing were thrown out the window on the Normandy and had been for sometime now.

"I am happy to see that we all can be friends and get along," Miranda said. "But there is still the problem of the Anahaus the human colony."

Anderson was the first to speak up, "Unfortunately there is going to be very little that the Council can do for them there. But there is something that the Alliance can do for them, since the Alliance and the Council are still technically two separate entities. We are going to send the _Normandy_ there to investigate the colony and try to see if there are any survivors from the attack. It looks bleak for all of them but we will see what we can do."

"And what if we run into any Anahaus?" Shepard asked. He already knew the answer to the question, but asking it aloud was a way that he could cover his ass.

"Kill them," Anderson said. "Two wrongs don't make a right, but enough Alliance blood has been spilt on their behalf. Make sure that they know what it is they are up against." Shepard smiled. He liked how that sounded coming from the Councilor. Whipping ass and taking names was something that he had become known for.

_Later that evening…_

Shepard sat at his desk in his quarters looking over the reports they had gathered from the Calypso mission and what few reports that had been made from the Egeos massacre. He went over the final transmission from Lt. Brooks time and time again, looking for something that he was missing.

The Anahaus were much larger than the one that he had encountered on Calypso and had slightly different physical appearances. Not even so much the armor but the way that they carried themselves. Part of that could be because of the General that his crew had killed and part of it could be because they were just truly different. He grabbed a photo that had been taken of the Anahaus general and examined it over and over. It was slightly shorter and stockier than the ones from Brooks' video. The ones in the video had an aura about them that brought chills down Shepard's spine, and he had yet to see them in person.

He wondered if the Anahaus were trying to create an army of super soldiers, an army that was made up of soldiers stronger than their own. Soldiers that were genetically different from the rest of their species. He remembered back to Mordin's reports from the breeding boxes they had found while they were on Calypso. Mordin spoke about brain activity he recorded and extra chromosomes that they were packing into the embryos during the initial stages of development. That could explain why the Anahaus in the video were much larger than the one that his crew took down.

Things were all beginning to add up and make sense to him now. The Anahaus were trying to breath life into their fading race but have also created an army of super soldiers to act as their main force. In theory it was a good idea, until the genetically altered Anahaus decided to one day bite the hands that had been feeding them. If they were stronger than a normal Anahaus then it wouldn't be long before this new breed took over the rest of the race and the Anahaus themselves would systematically destroy their race themselves. But then again they could be smarter than that and have some way of trying to control their own beasts.

The door to his quarters opened, "I swear Shepard I will kill her before this damned mission is over." Miranda said as she burst into the room. "Telling me that all my work at Cerberus was wrong and that it could not be justified was wrong her part. I do agree that not everything we did was morally justified but sometimes the end justifies the means."

"Whoa, whoa calm down Miranda," Shepard said getting out of his chair. "You need to understand Ashley a little bit better. She is one who likes to make her opinions known and does tend to put her foot in her mouth a lot. You should just let it…"

"No do not tell me to let it go Shepard," Miranda said. "She has belittled everything that I have done in my life and degraded my hard work. You know first hand what it is I can do and provide to the Alliance, unlike her. You yourself are a token of what I can do. I do not praise myself often Shepard but when I feel I deserve it then you can bet your ass I will do it."

"You two will have to find some sort of common ground though during this mission, just like when you and Jack were forced to work together against the Collectors," Shepard said.

"This is different Shepard," Miranda replied. "Jack was not a lover of yours in a previous lifetime. Jack and I had our differences but none of them ever revolved around you in particular. This woman, whom I just met, is debasing my life's work."

"Ashley just has strong feelings and has no qualms about making those feelings known Miranda," he tried to argue back. Not argue for Ashley but argue to get Miranda calmed down.

"Why in the hell are you trying to act like you are okay with this Christian? To me it looks like you are on her side about all of this."Sides? Shepard wasn't trying to take sides at all. All of his life he had been the one to see both sides of arguments and sympathize with each party involved. That made it easy for him to help people because he could explain the other person's or party's point of view. But now it was coming back and biting him the ass.

"I am not taking sides Miranda," he said, the tone in his voice changing a little bit. "However, what I am doing is trying to get you to understand why Ashley is how she is. She is a strong and stubborn woman who is set in her ways and does not like anyone telling her that she is wrong. If she feels strongly about something then she will make it known."

"Then she needs to feel strongly about it somewhere else Shepard. I do not like that she is being brought here on this ship," Miranda replied, acting childish.

"It was my decision to have Ashley come along with us," Shepard said back to her. "She is one hell of a soldier and we could use someone like her on this mission."

"I am not saying that I disagree with your orders Shepard, its just…"

"You are the one who is jealous aren't you Miranda?" he asked. Finally he had been able to crack her in this small instance. He had been able to do it on several occasions but not anytime recently. Now he made her feel human again. Miranda was quiet for a moment and kept her eyes on Shepard.

"Yes Christian I am jealous," she finally said. "I saw her picture up your on desks for weeks while we were searching for the Collectors, I often heard you talk to Garrus and Joker about her, and I know that you two had something." This was a side of Miranda that he rarely got to see, the emotional side. She broke down a little to him before when they finally revealed how they felt to each other, but even since then she had never been very emotional about things. Sure she would tell him that she loved him but those times were few and far between. Now she was showing real human emotions and allowing herself to succumb to a normal human feeling…jealousy.

Shepard go to his feet and looked at Miranda. He put his arms around her and brought her in close to him. There were times that even Shepard would forget that Miranda was indeed human. So many times he looked at her as this perfect woman who was physically stronger and capable of many more things that other woman he had ever come across. He had never met someone who did not want their hard exterior broken until he met her so many weeks ago.

"I need to know something," she said pushing away a little bit. "You did not want her back on this ship for personal reasons did you?"

Shepard chuckled, "Ash…Chief Williams is here because Councilor Anderson and I feel that it is in the best interest of the Alliance and the Council to have such a decorated soldier on the most decorated ship, fighting with the best damn squad anyone has ever seen. She is here to help us all make sure that whatever is out there planning to harm humans or any other races that live in Council controlled space, do not achieve their goals." She kept looking at him, not having yet received the answer she wanted. After a moment of trying to figure out what she wanted, Shepard finished. "I do not have feelings for Chief Williams any longer Miranda."

A smile came across the ex-Cerberus Operative. The night that followed was one that neither of them would forget, closely resembling the one they shared before they met the Collectors.

-I know, I know. Hella cheesy, I get it. But I figured that we would add some soap opera drama stuff to it all and try to have Miranda feel a little jealous about things. I hope you all enjoyed. I will be trying to work on the next chapter in the upcoming days.-


	16. Shepard, the Anahaus, and the Child

-Thanks to Metallica for the inspiration behind the name of the chapter. As always BioWare owns all, and enjoy

**Memories Remain**

Shepard and his right hand man Garrus got out of the _Normandy_ first. The Commander did not want anything to happen to any of his other crew members, so a small two man team would suffice for a recon of the area. And he could not think of anyone else better than his best friend Garrus Valkarian. If there was one person that he was able to put all of his trust in, it was Garrus.

The _Normandy_ had landed on Egeos about a half hour ago, and Shepard made sure to make his briefing with the crew quick and painless. There orders from Councilor Anderson were very simple; go and investigate Egeos by whatever means necessary. In the mind of Shepard that meant going there, seeing the damage that had been done, and kick ass if he needed to. Being the best that the galaxy had to offer had its occasional perks.

Shepard took a couple steps forward away from the ship with Garrus right behind him. Both of them already had weapons raised and ready incase they should encounter any Anahaus. Joker landed the _Normandy_ a good distance out from where the distress signal was coming from. Shepard wanted to make sure that it would be somewhat safe for his crew to get off of the ship, and not allow anything like what happened to Ken to happen to anyone else. Safety for his crew became the top priority now in his eyes.

After a moment of walking, Shepard and Garrus slowly began to drift apart from each other but stayed close enough to where they were still able to maintain some sort of visual contact. Christian did not plan on going out too far, only far enough to ensure that there would be no immediate threat.

"Shepard can you hear me ok?" Garrus asked over their comm-links.

"Clear Garrus," Shepard replied. "Let me know if you happen to come across anything interesting." They had already vanished into a small wooded area, surveying the terrain and keeping their eyes open for any sort of enemies or friendlies that may yet still be alive. The chances of that were very slim but Shepard had made a living off of defying the odds. In his mind, if he could do it so could someone else. There were no signs of any battle or struggle that he or Garrus could see yet. They had both gone a good distance into the forest and had yet located anyone or anything of interest.

"Should we call the rest of the squad out here?" Garrus asked. Shepard waited to respond to the question. Sure the area looked safe but his paranoia began to set it in. What if they had missed something while they were waling through. He may not have been as thorough as he could have been. That led him to think that maybe Garrus wasn't thorough either. No. He had to trust himself and Garrus in this situation. Garrus was his right hand man on the _Normandy_ and a great soldier. Thinking that he did a half ass job would show that he had no faith in the big Turian.

But calling the entire squad out could very risky for those who were left on the _Normandy_. Leaving behind some members of his crew could ultimately prove to be beneficial. But who to leave behind? No matter how he did this, he would piss someone off but again, safety was his number one concern for the crew. There feelings and bitchings would have to be thrown to the way side for now.

"Shepard?" Garrus asked. "What do you want to do Shepard?"

"We need to leave some people behind to make sure that they rest of the crew is going to be safe," he began. "I am only bringing a few people with us."

"Not a bad idea Shepard," Garrus replied. "That was the reason that…well I think you know where I was planning on going with that."

Shepard nodded and looked over towards Garrus, "Yea I know. I fucked up Garrus. But I will be damned if I do it again." Garrus smiled and began to walk back to the _Normandy_, keeping his distance from Shepard. The fire that was inside of Shepard had been rekindled. Shepard hadn't been the same since Ken was killed, just like how he acted when Alenko was left behind on Virmire. Coping with loss was something that tended to be hard on the Commander.

Garrus was one of the few Turians that did not have a racial hate towards humans, before the Eden Prime Wars. And what little feelings of dislike he had for them all went away when he saw how Shepard performed when taking down Saren and the amount of human lives that were sacrificed at the Battle of the Citadel. At that point, who could really deny that humanity was going to be major players in the galaxy for years to come. Even the most hardened Turians began to look upon them a little differently.

After a few moments of walking, the two made it back to the _Normandy _and stood outside of it.

"Joker this is Shepard," the Commander said. "I need you to send out Miranda, Ashley, Riley, Jacob, and Tali. Make sure everyone else is either inside of the ship or setting up defensive positions around the _Normandy_. I do not want any incidents like we had on Calypso."

"Roger that Commander," Joker replied. It took a couple of minutes but everyone that Shepard wanted to come out was filing out. He had his reasons for choosing who he did. Miranda and Jacob both had Biotic capabilities and were also damn good soldiers. He knew he could trust Ashley behind a weapon and was interested in seeing what it was that Riley could do if things were to get dicey. And Tali was here because she was the _Normandy's_ resident tech expert. She showed when they assaulted the Collector Base.

Everyone circled around Shepard and Garrus. Christian noticed that Miranda and Ashley maintained at least a two body distance from each other. He wasn't quite sure which one of them wanted the separation more, but he knew that he would eventually have to step in and say something if things were to get worse. He needed his team to be in sync, just like they were when they took down the Collectors.

"From what Garrus and I can tell," Shepard began. "There is no immediate threat to us or the ship. But that does not mean anything, we all know that. Miranda, what did EDI find?"

"There is a settlement just a couple of kliks ahead," she began pointing in the direction of the settlement. "That is where the transmission we received came from."

"Good. We will start looking there," Christian said. "I am not expecting to find anything but that doesn't mean let your guard down. Let's go." He turned and took off at a quickened pace, with the others following right behind him. Shepard led them down the path that he had previously taken only a couple of minutes ago.

No one spoke at all. Not to each or over the comms systems that they all had. Either they were too afraid that something could possibly be hearing them or tapping into their communications systems, or there was simply nothing to talk about. If they found anything it would surely speak for itself.

Garrus walked a little faster and caught up with Shepard, allowing the two of them to lead the team together. He reached up and switched off his comm link. Shepard noticed what his friend had done and did the same thing.

"What are you expecting to find?" the Turian asked.

Shepard chuckled quietly, "Do you really want me to answer that?"

"No I guess not," was Garrus's reply. "I'm sure that we are both thinking the same thing; a little bit of hell was unleashed on these unsuspecting people. But for what reason? From what we have all been told, these Anahaus have been recluses and kept themselves away from the rest of the galactic society. And now all of a sudden they have brought themselves into the limelight. It is not making much sense to me Shepard."

"They are creating an army," Shepard said. "I know that is not anything new to you, but follow along. They are a dying race that is desperate to try and resurrect their species. It makes sense that they would begin by decimating smaller colonies to test out their armies wouldn't it?"

"I see you have put a lot of thought into this Shepard," Garrus said.

"I have been studying Lt. Brooks' final transmission," Shepard replied. "The Anahaus that he encountered here were different than the one that we killed on Calypso."

"What do you mean by different?"

"They had differences to them."

"Well that makes sense Shepard. Unless it is an exact clone then the DNA make up would be the same," Garrus said. "The same way that you and Jacob look different, and how I look different from other Turians."

"Not the same," Shepard said back. "Differences that make them better than what could be considered a 'normal' Anahaus. I looked at pictures that were taken of the Anahaus general and the ones in the video."

"And?"

"And the ones in the video are a little larger have a more animalistic look to them," Shepard began. 'The general we killed seemed…refined, almost tamed in a way. I thought at first that maybe it was because he was possibly older than the others but then it dawned upon me. We know the Anahaus are cloning an army right?" Garrus nodded. "Well what if they are cloning an army of super soldiers? Anahaus that are genetically superior to a normal Anahaus."

"Damn," his friend replied. "I guess that would explain your findings on Calypso. It would seem like we are up against something greater than we even thought to begin with. An army of super soldiers."

"So keep on your toes," Shepard said. "The situation here could get really bad, really quick. I need you to be at your best today."

"Don't worry Shepard," Garrus said. "You are always going to have me here with you."

"I sure hope so," Shepard said, cracking a small smile. From there on the pair was quiet, just like the rest of the small squad. The approach to the settlement took only half an hour. From the wood line they could see parts of the settlement and from what they could tell, all hell broke loose on these unsuspecting people. Transit vehicles were destroyed and flipped over, buildings had huge chunks missing from them…and then there was those who lived on Egeos. Bodies strewn about, decimated and completely pulverized. Despite all of the combined years of combat between them all, seeing civilians laying on the ground amidst pools of blood and gore was something that they could not get used to. A fellow soldier with half of his face blown off was something that they could look past, but not this. These people did not deserve what happened to them.

Shepard motioned for everyone to keep down and stay in the wood line for now. A low silhouette would help keep them safe if anyone was watching them from any sort of distance. And surveying the area would help give them an idea of cover or possible points of ambushes.

After a few moments the squad, with Shepard in front and Garrus in back, ran out one by one into the city and took up cover behind what was left of buildings and vehicles. They all kept cover for one another as they all bounded from point to point throughout the city. Shepard kept checking his Omni-tool to pinpoint the building that Lt. Brooks sent his transmission from. That seemed like the best place to begin looking.

One final check and he sent the information to Garrus' tool. "A couple of buildings to the east Shepard and we are there." Garrus said to him. He looked up and saw the human flash him a thumbs up. The squad followed Shepard and stacked up beside a large grey building that was home to numerous satellite dishes and antennas. Shepard poked his head around and saw the door had been destroyed, a couple of marines, even a body of an Anahaus laying in the door way.

"_That crazy bastard took one with him_," Shepard thought to himself. He motioned everyone to follow him into the building. They all stepped over the bodies that were laying on the ground and made their way around the mess of computers and consoles.

"Tali," Shepard said. "See if you can find anything of interest. We will keep you covered." She nodded and made her way to the computer console that looked better than the others in the room. It looked like it had been blown to hell as well, but this was no time to be picky.

She stood behind the console and brought up her Omni-Tool to try and help get any information off of it. The Quarian worked her magic and had the computer running like it had been before the small invasion occurred. She did her best and was able to hack into the system that had been set up.

Riley walked up beside her and sat down his rifle. Normally Tali did not like working with someone hovering over her shoulder but the Captain may be useful to her in this instance. His knowledge of how Alliance computer networking could help get her one step closer to finding out what the hell happened here. A list of icons popped up in front of her ranging from a roster of those who were assigned to protect the colony, a 'to-do' list of things for their maintenance crew, and a plethora of other icons.

"Go here," Riley said reaching out in front of Tali.

She gently pushed his hand away, "I will drive if you guide me."

"Very well," he said in return. "Click on this to bring up their defense logs. Most colonies have logs of all their happenings. We should be able to filter it anywhere from the last 2 seconds all the way till when the colony was first made." Tali nodded and did as he told her to do. After a few screens they finally got to what Riley had been talking about.

"Try just going back to anything that has happened in the last 24 hours," Shepard said. "Going back any farther would be overkill." Tali did what the Commander asked and got what he was looking for. Shepard made his way to the screen and stood opposite of Riley.

"The defense logs show that they were tracking an unknown ship entering into their atmosphere nearly 7 hours ago," Riley began. "That puts Brooks' transmission coming in roughly 6 hours ago. Whoever was at this terminal logged that Brooks took charge after the apparent death of a Captain Martinez. The Captain was out east with a small vehicle convoy, surveying the surrounding areas in hopes for expansion. Their convoy was attacked by an unidentifiable aircraft. It would be safe to assume that it was the ship the Anahaus came here on."

"Anything else?" Ashley asked. She had been peculiarly quiet thus far.

He read down a little farther. "There isn't much after that. Before it records the Captain's death it says that Lt. Brooks took a group of men out to search the area. Then there isn't anything that is human inputted until Brooks logged into the system and sent out the distress call."

"What do you mean by human inputted?" Miranda asked.

"Some of the new Alliance Defense Systems allow for automated recordings," Riley said. "They don't record anything too important. Mainly the time, any weather changes, or anything that the satellites pick up. Here they have the distance of the Anahaus ship and surprisingly they have the presence of an unknown species in the building. Anything that is not a council race or any other predominant race in the galaxy, our systems will not recognize them."

"How are the systems able to pick them up?" Garrus asked. "Is there some sort of scanner?"

"Actually yes," Riley replied. "The Alliance some small range scanners that are able to pick up on race and gender. Like right now it is telling me that there are three human males, 2 human females, one female Quarian and a male Turian. The log says that there were some body masses here that the computers could not identify. But of course we can all identify them as the Anahaus based on our previous Intel. The people here though would have no idea what they would have been or what they would have been capable of."

"Gather everything you can from this and then we will need to continue on throughout the settlement," Shepard said. Riley nodded as Tali brought up her Omni-Tool and began to download all of the data that wasn't corrupted from the console.

"We are good here Shepard," the young Quarian said to him. He gave no reply and went back to the door and looked out both ways before leading the squad back out of it.

"Over to our right is the common area where the civilians and workers would have stayed," Garrus said looking at the map that he had on his Omni-Tool. "If, and I do mean if Shepard, there are any survivors then we should head over there and look."

"We cannot be too long there," Shepard said. "I do not want to sound cold hearted but I would find it hard to believe if there were any survivors at all. From what we have been able to gather, the Anahaus seem like they are good at destruction." Garrus nodded in agreement. "But that doesn't mean that we can't at least go and look."

"That's all I ask Shepard," Garrus said. "It would be nice to get someone's view of what happened here. How it all went down."

**Small Discovery**

"Son of a bitch," Jacob said as they approached the Common Areas. "Civilians live here, not soldiers."

"What kind of animal would do something like this?" Tali asked, but she answered her own question inside of her head. An animal would do this. Something without a conscience or soul, something that had no regard for how precious life was, especially the life of another.

The Common Areas looked just as bad, if not worse than the other areas of the settlement. The scenes were much more gruesome than they were at the other points of the settlement. What made them worse was the sight of seeing children and teenagers on the ground. Shepard did his best to not look over at them, but something in his mind made him want to mourn for a young life that never got the chance to live to the fullest in this big galaxy. It was a solemn moment for Shepard and the crew.

The Common Areas were a series of grey buildings that were 4-5 stories high. Most of the windows were blown out and pieces of broken glass were on the ground and in the shrubbery that was around the walkways and buildings.

Shepard looked around and led his team up to one of the buildings and up one of the stairwells that led inside of the buildings. The lights flickered on and off down the hallways, and the floors were littered with trash, glass, and pieces of the walls. They did there best to step over the occasional body or two that was laid out on the ground in front of them.

Christian got a bad feeling in his stomach as they continued on throughout the building. The squad pushed open a couple doors and looked inside to see if there was anyone that would possibly be alive. Hopelessness was setting in amongst all of the squad members, until they finally heard something that gave them all a little glimmer of hope. A soft cry was coming from a few doors down. They hurried as quietly as they could over to the door of the living area. Shepard slowly reached out to open the door and looked at his squad. They all nodded and he waved his hand in front of the door, allowing it to open.

Like a machine, the squad entered into the room and took up positions in various parts of it, making sure that the initial room was clear. The cries were getting louder now. Shepard pointed to the door it was coming from, and it was right beside Garrus. Garrus nodded and opened the door slowly to reveal a small closet with a young child curled up in a fetal position, shaking and crying.

Garrus reached down to check on the child, but has he rolled her over she began to scream at the top of her lungs.

"Someone get her quiet now!" Shepard blasted. Miranda swiftly moved in and picked her up into her arms.

"Shhh shhh," Miranda said, trying to make the girl calm down a little bit, but it did not work. The young girl continued to kick and scream in Miranda's arms, letting out a horrifying scream.

"We need to get here quiet before something hears her!" Ashley said agitated.

"If you have the maternal skills to get her to shut up then bring your ass over here and do it!" Miranda snapped. Shepard stood with a look of bewilderment on his face and shot Garrus a quick glance. Miranda cuddled and rocked the girl, who was no more than 7, trying desperately to get here to quiet down. Everyone in the squad looked out the windows to make sure that nothing was coming or looking for the source of the sound. Shepard looked frantically through the rooms until he found a small doll and handed it over to the child.

After a moment or two of crying she stopped and her wailing went down to a low sobbing and held onto her doll. Miranda did her best to wipe away the tears that had been streaming down the poor child's face.

"You make good first impressions Mr. Valkarian," Tail said to Garrus.

"You know me, always the ladies man," he replied. Miranda set the girl down in the middle of the room. She was shivering and had small lacerations on her body. The look on her face was one of pure horror and fright, something that told Shepard what he already knew in the back of his mind. This poor girl's family must have been slaughtered and she somehow survived. Shepard was amazed that she had been able to do so and wondered how the Anahaus never found her, or let her live at all.

"We need to try and get her to talk to us," Shepard said. "Maybe she will be able to give us some insight as to what happened." He walked over to Miranda and put his rifle on his hip. He flashed a smile at the girl and ran his hand over her hair to give her a sense of comfort while being around him.

"Shepard," Jacob said from a hallway. "We found people." Shepard nodded in acknowledgement, not trying to say out loud that this girl's family would not be appearing anytime soon.

"Do what you can with them," Shepard said. Not that there was much to do anyways other than give them some sort of mock burial. "As for her, we need to get her back to the ship and take her to Chakwas. After that, Kelly can sit down with her and try to talk to her. Garrus take point." The Turian nodded and began to exit the small home.

The attack came suddenly and from out of nowhere. Two explosions rocked the room the squad was in, sending them all to the floor and the child back into a wild frenzy. From the doorway walked in two Anahaus, much larger than the one that Shepard had faced off against on Calypso. They had red stains on various parts of their bodies, and on the blades that were on their arms.

Garrus fired first but all of his shots came off of their kinetic barriers. One of the Anahaus swung with his giant paw and sent Garrus across the room and crashing into a wall. Riley and Jacob opened fire as well, with Tali not that far behind them. Bullets zipped through the air but not a single one was able yet to knock out the shields that were protecting their enemies. Miranda kept the girl in her arms and crawled away from the firefight to try and keep her safe from harm.

"Stay here and do not move okay?" Miranda said to her, although her voice was being drowned out by the gunfire in the background. The little girl nodded and Miranda took off back to where the action was.

One of the Anahaus charged forward and let out a hellish roar as it did. Riley and Jacob shifted their fire to the charging Anahaus in hopes of draining it's shields. Miranda inserted herself into the fray and locked on the charging Anahaus. She had only a split second to do something to try and turn the tide of this skirmish. A blue hue began to swirl around her as she began to summon up all of the biotic power that she could muster up.

She gritted her teeth together and locked her eyes on him, watching him get closer and closer with each passing half second. She knew that she needed to do something quick or the beast was going to cause some serious harm to her and the crew of her lover's ship. With all of the might that she had inside of her body she unleashed a blue biotic blast. The blast sent the Anahaus backwards, crashing into shelves and a TV that was mounted upon a wall. He slammed onto the floor with a loud thud and laid there, semiconscious.

Miranda stood there, trying hard to regain her composure from launching such a massive attack. Despite all of her 'perfections' from her father, being a top class biotic was not one of them. She felt as if all of her strength had been sapped from her, and indeed it had been. It took all she had inside of her to put that monster on it's fat ass. A sense of pride began to overcome her, until she remembered the second Anahaus in the doorway.

He too was caught off guard by Miranda's attack and looked down at his comrade, taking his eyes off of his foes. Jacob and Riley aimed down the sights of their weapons and once again opened fire, this time upon him. He let out a terrible, ear shattering roar that would have frightened a lesser being. The Anahaus brought up his weapon and aimed it at Miranda, who had still not moved the spot she was in.

"Get down!" Jacob yelled from across the room. What took place next happened all too fast for the Anahaus to comprehend. Before he could squeeze the trigger and take down Miranda, Garrus had been able to make a quick recovery with a small amount of Medi-Gel. His fist connected with the face of his foes, and second fist gave him a swift uppercut. That gave him the opening that he had been waiting for. He brought up his Assault Rifle and put it in the gut of his foe. At such a close distance, the kinetic barriers would do nothing to protect him, and indeed they didn't. Garrus pulled the trigger and watched as the Anahaus' insides flew out of a hole from his back.

Slowly, the body of the now dead Anahaus swayed back and forth before falling to the ground and letting out one last grunt. Garrus turned and looked at the other Anahaus that was laying down on the ground, still breathing. This concerned him slightly, until a short burst of rounds took down his shields and another burst went through his skull.

Everyone was quiet and still for a few moments. The attack only lasted less than 5 minutes but it was long enough to get everyone a little rattled. Miranda took a few more deep breaths before finally regaining her composure. She went back to the little girl and picked her back up into her arms.

"How are you?" Shepard asked, walking up behind the pair.

"I think she will be okay," Miranda said. "Just a lot of traumatic stress right now on her little mind but I think…"

"I was talking about you Miri," Shepard said. "Are you okay?"

"Yea I am fine," she said with a smile. "But we really need to get her onto the _Normandy_, and so we can get the hell out of here."

"It's not going to be that easy ya know," Shepard said. "We have made a little bit of noise since we made it here and if any other Anahaus are around then they will have heard our little ruckus."

"Then we have to move quickly," Ashley chimed in. "Maybe we can get Joker to bring the _Normandy _closer, or have someone come here in the shuttle that you have in the cargo bay." Shepard gave her a look, one that asked how she knew about the new shuttle and why she didn't ask about the old Mako. "I talked to Garrus and Joker about the new upgrades to the ship. It seems like Cerberus' money did something for you Shepard."

"That's not a bad idea though," Jacob said. "EDI can auto pilot here to us and we can take control from there." Shepard nodded. It was a good plan. But what he was more concerned about was getting this little girl to Dr. Chakwas to make sure that she is able to recover slightly from what happened. He keyed in a transmission to Joker, and within ten minutes of sitting and waiting, they were back on theship and the little girl was ready to speak.


	17. Her Name Is Lily

-BioWare owns all, as always. Thanks to all who keep on reading this. I really appreciate it. This may not be the best chapter I have done, so please be gentle with me-

**The Mind Of A Child**

The little brunette girl was very brave as she sat on the examination table of Dr. Chakwas inside of the _Normandy SR-2_. Lily was her name, and she had just turned 7 years old. She looked around at all of the new surroundings, trying to take in the turn of events that just took place in her life. She had been whisked away from the only home that she had ever known and now sat inside of a real life starship! All of her friends would be so jealous of her right now. They always played around their homes and pretended they were on starships, traveling around the galaxy and meeting new creatures.

Their were definitely a lot of new and different creatures on this ship. She recognized them all from her schooling though. One was a Turian. Lily wasn't sure how to feel about him, since he had scared her back inside of her home. But he also saved her from the two big monsters that she didn't recognize. They scared her more than anything had ever scared her before! These nice people saved her though.

The lady with long brown hair was named Miranda. Lily had clung to her since they had left her home a little while ago. She always walking around and talking to a tall man that everyone kept calling Shepard. Lily guessed maybe they liked each other, but he wasn't poking her or pulling her hair like the boys her age did.

One thing that excited her the most was getting to meet Miss Tali, the Quarian. She talked funny from inside of her helmet that she wore. When Miranda wasn't around, Tali would talk to her and they would play little games that Tali said she played when she was a little girl. Tali told her that she used to be new on this ship too a long time ago. Now she was considered to be a part of the family on the ship. Lily looked around once more. Where was her family? Mommy and daddy had to be here somewhere, but she couldn't figure out where. Maybe Shepard or Miranda would know where they were at.

Dr. Chakwas continued her examination of Lily, while Miranda stood with a clipboard, writing down everything that the doctor was telling her.

"Lily has no broken bones," Dr. Chakwas said to her. "The only real damage done to her is the bruises and small lacerations. But those will heal over the process of a few days." Miranda jotted down everything that was just said. Dr. Chakwas liked to have a written account of all of her dealings, to coincide with what she had on audio and video record. It was just a safe way for her to be able to double check her notes.

"You are a lucky little girl you know that?" Miranda asked with a smile. "I am glad that we found you when we did."

"Is the Commander going to have Yeoman Chambers sit down and talk with her to make she has no psychiatric illnesses?" Dr. Chakwas asked.

"He is," Miranda replied. "He wanted you to clear her before Kelly sat down with her. Shepard holds your opinion in high regard."

"Well as far as I can tell she is an otherwise healthy young lady," the doctor said sitting next to Lily on the table. "No internal damage done to her body, no signs of anything that I can tell other than the bruises and lacerations which like I said will heal with time."

"Has been exposed to any Element Zero?" Miranda asked, reading off one of the questions that they had skipped over earlier.

"All of her tests came back negative," Chakwas replied. "She is not a biotic. And with the amount of biotics we have on this ship that may be a good thing."

"Biotics can be tricky if you do not know how to control it," Miranda said. As she finished her statement, Commander Christian Shepard entered into the infirmary and looked over at Lily.

"I am hoping to hear some good news about our new friend here," he said.

"First of all we learned her name is Lily and she is 7 years old," Miranda began.

Shepard knelt down a little in front of Lily, "Lily huh? That is a pretty name for a pretty little girl. What else?" He turned his attention quickly over to Miranda and Dr. Chakwas. Shepard wanted to interact with the child more but he had precious little time and he did not want to waste it. Making sure this little girl was okay was his first priority, that would give him the go ahead to have her sit down and talk to Kelly about what had happened on her home planet.

"She has no major injuries Shepard," Dr. Chakwas began, walking up the bed and putting her hand on Lily's back. "Some minor lacerations on parts of her body.." she said pointing to a cut on the girl's face. "And bruises scattered across her body as well. Other than those minor injuries she is okay."

"Physically she is fine Shepard," Miranda chimed in with. "Mentally though, it could be a whole new story. She has been fine sitting here, and not asked any questions about…" Shepard nodded and was able to finish her sentence for her. "We haven't gathered that much from her though, other than her name and her age. She has been quiet and content just sitting here watching us." Shepard got up from kneeling in front of Lily and looked down at her.

She was a beautiful little girl who looked like she was ready to just begin a deep exploration of the universe around her. Of course Shepard was sure that when her parents had held her for the first time they had envisioned Lily living a peaceful life on Egeos. Not sitting on a ship while their corpses were back in their family home.

He turned to Dr. Chakwas, "Would it be okay if we were to have her sit down and talk to Kelly? Just to make sure that she is okay. I am sure that inside of her little mind she has all sorts of information inside of that head of hers."

"As eager you are to get inside of her head, I would be cautious Shepard," Dr. Chakwas said. "Although she has been calm with Miranda and I, she is still in a very fragile state right now. The fact that she has not vocally mentioned.." The doctor mouthed the words 'her parents'. "…is quite astonishing to me."

"I understand your concern doctor," Shepard said. "But we need to learn what she knows, what exactly happened down on that planet. All we know is that the Anahaus came through and…well the carnage speaks for itself. An eye witness account will be very beneficial to us."

"Regardless of your reasons Shepard," Dr. Chakwas said trying to sound disapproving. "I still stand behind my decision. She is to fragile right now."

Shepard merely smiled and picked the child up into his arms. "EDI, have Kelly meet me the conference room immediately." He said to the ship's AI. In a matter of 2-3 minutes Shepard, Lily, and Kelly were all sitting up in the conference room, a room that at one time had been completely destroyed after the battle with the Collectors. But his crew was able to put everything back into place and once again have his ship be in pristine shape.

Shepard sat in the corner of the room, arms folded across his chest and a look of determination across his face. It was not by luck that they met Lily, Shepard knew that this was meant to be. Children were normally honest little people, and although they did not always know what was going on, they were able to revisit memories damn near perfectly. He wanted to know more about their newest enemy. So far he and his crew had only encountered one or two at a time, but the whole colony of Egeos was wiped out by more than just a couple of them. They had to have patterns to their attacks and some sort of coordination about how they did things. EDI was working tirelessly to try and gather anything she could from the security cams on Egeos but thus far they had very little.

Kelly and Lily were sitting and talking about school and all of the little friends that Lily had back at home. So far nothing had come up about her parents, which Shepard had found particularly surprising. It had been at least 4 hours since they had left Egeos and only a couple of times she had mentioned her family. Maybe she was smarter than she let on and knew what had happened to her family.

Lily and Kelly sat and talked like they had known each other before, and bonded very easily. That was the result that Shepard has wanted but he did not expect it to come as quickly as it did. But then the conversation turned down a road that, despite all of his wishful thinking, Shepard knew it would eventually have to turn down.

"Now Lily," Kelly said, trying to ease into the conversation. "Can you tell me what happened at your home today? You know, when the attacks began." Shepard said forward and watched intently, knowing that this was what he had been waiting for.

At first Lily didn't say anything for almost a full minute. She had a stone cold look on her face, one not of sadness or grief but one of shock and horror. It was to be expected considering what the young child had been through. And although time was of the essence, Shepard was willing to work with the girl while she tried to sort out her thoughts about what had happened. Her little hands clinched up into fists as she began to talk.

"I was sitting by the window in my living room," she began. "Some of the grown-ups began to scream really loud and run into the buildings. I wasn't sure what was scaring them so I kept watching. I heard gunfire. Lots and lots of gunfire coming from down the street. There were a lot of explosions and more screams. Not a normal scream, but one that was really loud. Cars were on fire and so were some…"

"Some what Lily?" Kelly asked. "Some people?" Lily nodded. Much to Shepard's surprise, Lily still had a stone cold look on her face. Callous almost. It had to be a defense mechanism, but surely she was too young to have developed an attitude like that. Despite her lack of an emotional response, Lily kept on with the story.

"People were on fire, just like the cars," she continued. "There was a lot of bodies and blood all on the ground. I saw some adults running away from loud noises, and some of my friends were running away as well. I didn't know what they were running from at first but I kept watching. Then I saw these big monster walking down my street, shooting guns at my friends and neighbors. One jumped onto an air transport and growled really loud.

"More of them came down my street, all with guns and big knives, bigger than what my mom uses in the kitchen," Lily said. She paused for a second, not looking at Kelly anymore but through her. After a moment she snapped back into reality and continued on with her story. "I saw as a group of them began to walk towards where I live. The rest of them kept shooting and walking forward. The people they didn't shoot they killed with their big knives or they bit them…a lot.

"I heard the monsters shooting and people screaming in the hallways where I live," she said. "Daddy finally came in and grabbed me away, right before our window cracked and broke all over our floor. I got cut up a little bit from the glass and the floor when daddy and I fell down. Mommy came running into the living room too and they threw me into the closet that we have a lot of things mommy uses to clean with." She kept quiet for a bit. She didn't talk, only looked at Kelly as if she was trying to figure something out. Shepard knew this moment was going to come but he was surprised that it took so long for her to come up with the question.

"Where is my mommy and daddy?" Lily asked. She began to look around the room, panicking slightly and squirming around in her chair. "Mommy! Daddy!" She called out as tears began to form up in her small eyes. After a moment of squirming she sat still in her chair and put her face in hands, allowing the tears to flow after the realization sat in. Her parents weren't on the ship for a reason. They were back at her house when the monsters came in. They had hid her from the monsters but didn't hide themselves from the monsters. She knew what happened to her parents.

Kelly began to tear up slightly, but was able to wipe away the early tears and keep her composure. She slid her chair over and pulled Lily onto her lap and rocked her slightly. Kelly specialized in psychology, but she was used to grown adults and adult aliens. Working with children was something completely different and this was a very delicate situation, one that she had never worked with before. In a matter of hours this young child had lost everything that is had known to be a normalcy in her life. Now she was being forced to realize that her parents were somewhere that she could not go, and somewhere they would not be able to come back from.

Shepard sat in the corner watching on. He kept his military bearing, not showing any emotion that would remind himself that he is human. Lily had told him all that he was going to be able to get out of her for now. Unfortunately, he did not get what he wanted out of the conversation with her. He needed to know how the Anahaus worked and coordinated their attacks.

He got to his feet and looked at Kelly. She smiled and nodded, letting him know that she had everything under control. Now it was time for him to try and put a finish to all of this.


	18. One In The Same

-Ya'll know that BioWare owns all. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and the rest of the story as well-

**One In The Same**

**Kahn**

Kahn sat in the corner of a small room on the _Bloodlust_. It had finished its mission hours ago and was now returning to Calypso so he could continue monitoring the progress of the cloning. The Annihilators that were used on the human world worked better than what was originally planned. All in all, the attack went smoother than what Kahn had predicted, and he had predicted an easy attack. The plan was simple; take the humans by surprise and completely destroy all of them. It was the perfect way to test out their new soldiers.

Now that Kahn had accomplished his mission, he could sit back and relax all the way back to Calypso. It was just him and his thoughts in own personal part of the ship. The words of General Darv still sat in his head. Would he live out his own legacy or that of his uncle. His uncle had been there for him his whole life and helped bring Kahn up in the Anahaus ways of war and battle. Geng had helped form Kahn into the animal that he had become.

Was General Darv right though, was it time for his people to have a new leader over them? The remaining elders seemed to be behind him, almost pushing him to think about the possibility of challenging his uncle for the right to lead the Anahaus. Kahn was an Annihilator, the first of his kind. Geng was an old, war torn Anahaus who was beginning to show signs of his aging. But he was still smart and cunning. Fighting his uncle would be a foolish decision…or would it be?

Kahn knew that he was bigger and possibly stronger than his uncle. But brute strength and size alone did not win a fight. Geng was very smart for his age. Very few Anahaus were as smart or witty as his uncle. His smarts were what kept him in power for such a long time, along side of his strength that is. Those two traits made him a very powerful ally and enemy at the same time. Kahn knew this all to well. His uncle was his closest ally but it also seemed like he was the only thing standing in his way from being the complete and truly perfect warrior. He was the only thing standing in his way from the one thing he did not have. And that one thing was power.

Fighting his uncle would be treason though. But it was only treason if he lost the fight against his uncle, and the punishment would be his death. Worse than that, his entire legacy would be tainted. His very name would be mocked for years to come as the Anahaus who failed to defeat his old uncle.

Being the first Annihilator created meant that he had to set the standard for the rest of the army that was being created. It also meant that he would be scrutinized by all of those around him. If he lost to his uncle then their suspicions about his abilities to perform would be confirmed. The legacy of the Annihilators would end before it even got the chance to truly begin.

Kahn snapped himself back into reality. He was forgetting what he was and where it was that he had came from. Yes he was not a pure blood Anahaus, he was a clone. But that did not mean that he was that much different from the rest of the race. A thirst for blood and destruction was something that was the one characteristic he shared with the rest of his people. He had a yearning to get out and kill all of his opponents. Not just kill them, but do it in such a way that would strike fear into the hearts of all those who might just oppose the Anahaus. He wanted the best for his people and to see them progress in the galaxy. That meant destroying all of the races that could be considered to be roadblocks to the Anahaus.

In order to do that though, there would need to be a drastic change. He shuddered to think about how his race would accept what he was considering doing to his uncle. Challenging his uncle for the top spot in the Anahaus military was not something that he took lightly, nor was it something that was going to be an easy decision. It would be something that would need to be thought out for a couple of days, or longer before he made the formal challenge. Only one Anahaus had challenged Geng in his reign as ruler of he Anahaus and he failed to kill Geng. But the last one to do it was not Kahn, he was not a super soldier whose only purpose was to bred to kill all in front of him.

General Darv had made it clear to Kahn that this was an act that was needed to be done in order for the Anahaus to prosper. Geng was a very strong leader, but he was aging. Being the leader of his people had caused him to age quickly, due to the extra stress added onto his body. Kahn thought to himself that he could possibly bring in new life to the Anahaus and its military. He could spark a new desire into his people that could help them push on and over run the Turians, Salarians, and even that damned Commander Shepard.

If Geng was one of the roadblocks to Kahn's rise to glory than so was Commander Shepard. The Anahaus had watched him for years and always had a great interest in his affairs. He was a strong individual, not like the other humans that they had encountered before. Shepard had defied the odds on numerous occasions. All of those occasions were times when a normal human would have given up and lost hope completely. But this human stayed the course and continued to fight with every fiber in his being.

This is what made Kahn want to meet him in combat. The two of them standing across from each other, meeting in combat where there could only be one true winner. Kahn knew deep down who the winner would be. He was physically superior to Shepard. But still there was something about Shepard that made him stronger beyond his capabilities. He had something that Kahn could not quite figure out what it was.

If Kahn could somehow take Shepard out of the equation then not only would humanity be weakened, but so would the Council. Shepard was their hero who would do almost anything they asked of him. Killing him would surely break the Council and leave them vulnerable to an attack.

Geng and Shepard would need to be eliminated. Kahn wanted to be the strongest being in the galaxy, and in order to do that he would need to prove it to himself and the rest of the Anahaus race. Geng was their current leader and Shepard was a legend amongst all of the races in the galaxy. His influence reached hundreds of stars and systems, an influence that Kahn could only dream about having. But he could have all of these things, if he wanted to reach out and take them.

Power.

Influence.

Strength. They were all out there, waiting for him to snatch at the opportunity to grasp at them and become the warrior he desired to be. Kahn knew what his first step was going to be. But it would take something that he never thought he would be without. Courage.

**Shepard**

Christian Shepard stood over the galaxy map as his ship the _Normandy SR-2_, headed back to the Citadel, the heart of the galactic community. There latest mission took him to the now destroyed human colony of Egeos. On the outside of things it looked as if it was a failure, but he was able to rescue Lily from what could have been a horrible fate. He was taking her back to give her to an orphanage, or at least find someone who was going to be able to take care of her. Miranda had made comments about wanting to keep her on board, but the truth was the ship was no place for her. The dangers of what the _Normandy's_ crew did were too great to endanger a child.

It was a heavy hear that he had to say goodbye to her. He had only known her for a couple of days but he had gotten to be attached to her, just as Miranda had done. But know was not the time for them, or anyone else at that, to get attached to someone when there was a mission at hand.

Of course that made him felt like a hypocrite. Twice he had fallen for a woman before the biggest battles of his life. But this was a little different, he had told himself. The women he was with knew the dangers that were laid out in front of them. This innocent little girl did not.

In a way, she was like the rest of the human race. She had no idea about the bigger picture of what was going on. All she knew was that some monsters destroyed her home and took her parents from her. But Shepard knew more, more that she could not nor would she ever understand. Most humans, and even the Council, had no idea about what he was up against, and could possibly face in the upcoming days or weeks. He had tried to warn them about the Reapers before but they would not listen. And now he was trying to warn them about the terrors that were going to face if they were to go up against the Anahaus.

Shepard had fought against one of them by himself and was given a great ass kicking. It sent a chill down his spine though to know that his newest enemies were breeding an army of soldiers that were stronger than the one that he had faced on Calypso. He and his crew were going to be up against a force that the galaxy had not seen yet. One that had the possibility of being able to wipe out entire civilizations if left unchecked.

That would not stop him though from doing his damndest to try and stop the Anahaus though. He had made a living of proving doubters wrong. He had defied his critics so many times, against numerous enemies and seemingly insurmountable odds that he almost expected it from himself at this point in his life. Not just proving everyone wrong, but having the balls big enough to look the devil himself in the eyes and spit in his face. It was who he had become.

A lot of people refer to him as a hero, but that is not how he thought of himself. In his mind he was just going what he had to do in order to preserve humanities' place in the galaxy. There had been a lot of racism towards humanity since they burst onto the galactic scene many years ago. The First Contact War was only the beginning of what had been a struggle for humans to be able to be accepted in the galaxy. Turians had always been weary of humans and the lust that many of them had for power and personal profit. Shepard, thankfully, was not like that. He had tried his damndest to prove all of the galaxies' races wrong about humans. He intended to prove that they did belong in the galaxy. It had been a long, long road for his race but slowly they were beginning to prove their worth.

He looked around the central part of the _Normandy SR-2_. Miranda stood next to one of the terminals, talking with one of the Ensigns that had been assigned to be part of the crew. If he wasn't fighting for humanity then he was fighting for her, the love of his life. She had seen Christian through a lot of things, even death.

Things had been a little tense at first with Ashley coming on board the ship, but Miranda had finally been able to work around the Commander's former lover being around. The discovery of Lily had definitely helped bring out a little bit of Miranda's 'human' side a little bit, in ways that Shepard could not. Miranda's maternal instincts had switched on and she had shown a side of herself that no one thought she had. A side of her that was caring and almost a normal human.

The Commander let out a long sigh. He was tired, both physically and mentally. From the time of his 'resurrection' to now, he had been going nonstop. Going across the galaxy, hunting down races that were hell bent on destroying humanity. But Shepard was determined to put a stop to all of it.

"Shepard," came Garrus' voice, bringing the Commander back to reality for a moment. Shepard spun around and folded his arms across his chest, leaning against one of the bars that separated him from the Galaxy Map. The room went back to its normal colors after the map went away, putting an end to the orange hue amidst the room.

"I have come into contact with some very interesting information in regards to the Anahaus," Garrus said. Now Shepard's interest was piqued. Any type of information he could get his hands on would be very useful at this time.

"Who did you get this from?" Shepard asked.

"A personal friend of mine named Ruso Vegrell," Garrus said. "We used to work together back when I worked for C-Sec. He is in the 'information' business. And it just so happens that the Turian Government has a new growing interest with our enemies."

Shepard cocked his head to the side a bit, "Why is that? If anything I thought that the Turians would turn a cold shoulder to human affairs."

"One might be inclined to think that," Garrus said. "But this is a close personal friend of mine, one that I trust very much." Shepard considered Garrus' words for a moment. If it was enough for Garrus to trust this man then it should be enough for Shepard to trust him as well. Garrus had a good sense about people and could almost rell instantly about them.

"Tell me what you got Garrus," Shepard said.

-I was hoping that everyone could see some similarities between Shepard and Kahn. That being that they only wanted the best for their respective races, but doing it differently. And of course, get things in motion for the ending to Shepard and Kahn's


	19. Rise To Power

-Sorry these last 2 have been a little short. I am hoping this one is slightly longer-

**Rise To Power**

The _Bloodlust_ finally landed back on the planet Calypso after a few hour flight from the human colony. Kahn walked out of the ship, finally letting himself stretch out his large leg muscles. Another hour or so in there and he would have been forced to walk about the ship and possibly mingle with the crew, or worse Darv and Midor. He had no malice thoughts towards them, but at the time he wanted to keep to himself and all of the thoughts that he was having. Their was also the small chance that he would slip and reveal what he was considering doing to his uncle.

A small bit of rage came over him. Maybe that was their intention. To place in his mind a seed of doubt and resentment towards his uncle, causing him to want to lash out against him. They could have been hoping that Kahn would try to rally support for his actions and try to use them. Kahn was smarter than they believed him to be.

This was going to be something that he would keep to himself, no one must ever find out about his plot. It would take the entire race by surprise and could possibly turn their races' fortunes around. For years they had been looked down upon by the galaxy, and even had been exiled by the Galactic Counsel. The series of events leading up till now is what had forced the Anahaus' hand. Now Kahn felt as if his hand was being forced to so something that he believed could help his people.

Arriving on Calypso, something happened that took Kahn by surprise…his uncle's personal ship was on that planet. That meant that his uncle Geng was currently on the planet. Was this the opportunity that he had been waiting for? Had fate allowed this to be the moment in time in which he finally fulfills what could possibly be his destiny? The situation called for tact and discretion.

As of right now, all of the odds were heavily in Kahn's favor. Firstly, his uncle was here on the planet, possibly overseeing what was going on here on Calypso. And secondly, if Kahn did anything…mutinous, it would take his uncle by complete surprise. But for now Kahn would try his best to remain calm and normal. He did not want to do anything that would tip off his uncle or make him suspicious of what may be coming his way.

Kahn walked into the facility. The guards at the door pounded their hands on their chests out of respect for one of their leaders. Kahn let out a grunt, causing them to return to their normal position. After taking a few twists and turns, Kahn finally met his uncle. Geng was standing in the middle of the war room, his back to the door. Geng was such an awesome sight to behold, not matter how many times Kahn looked at him. Kahn took a few more steps into the room before his uncle's words stopped him.

"I am pleased to hear about the Egeos mission," Geng said. His deep, bellowing voice echoed throughout the war room. He spoke with a commanding voice that could make walls move. "The Annihilators performed well, from the reports I have read. You have done well nephew."

"Thank you Excellency," Kahn said. Geng's words seemed hollow to Kahn. He wasn't sure if they were truly hollow or if the words of Darv and Midor were settling in. His people needed a strong leader and unfortunately, his uncle was not acting like that leader. His uncle was not being the Anahaus that his race needed. Kahn kept his eyes locked on his uncle, especially when his uncle turned his back to him as he walked around the room. Kahn's nerves spiked when his uncle turned his back to him. He couldn't see what Geng was doing in front of his, and a fear of the unknown was what concerned Kahn the most.

"Your command over the Annihilators was very impressive," Geng said. "From what you have told me about them, they are hard to control and can be very wild. Darv and Midor reported to me that they followed your every word and looked up to you as some sort of god. This was a good way to begin your career as a general in my army."

His army? Those words struck deep into the core of Kahn. Of course it was Geng's army, he was the head of the Anahaus Army…but Kahn was a jealous beast. The thrill of the destruction of the human world gave him a desire and bloodlust that he believed set him apart from the rest of his species. It was for that desire he was bred. He now wanted to be the leader for his people, the one who was going to bring them to the forefront of the galaxy and make them a dominate force in the galaxy. There was only one thing that he could do in order to fulfill his destiny. He stood there biding his time however, letting Geng continue his praise of Kahn.

"This is the first of many missions nephew," Geng said. After he spoke, a door at the far end of the war room opened. Walking in were 20 or more Annihilators, all clad in armor and armed with a rifle and gauntlet blade. Kahn could feel the floor tremble slightly. A sense of pride came over Kahn. This was what he was going to try and inherit from his uncle.

The 20 Annihilators crossed the room and stood across from Kahn and his uncle. Geng walked in front of them, inspecting how they looked. With his large paw, grabbed one by his snout and moved his head side to side. He walked to the next and grabbed his rifle, checking the weapon for scratches or dents. This went on for a few more moments before Geng returned in front of Kahn.

"This is a defining moment in the history of our people," said Geng. "This is but a small taste of the army that we have built over the last few months. As we speak, our other facilities have finished hundreds of Annihilators, all prepared for battle and the destruction of those who have oppressed us. The council will be on bended knee, looking up to us and begging for mercy as we crush them underneath out might.

"You are going to help lead our people into the next stage of our own personal evolution," Geng continued, turning to Kahn. "You will be the one these soldiers look up to as a leader. You will lead them into battle and destroy our enemies."

This was it. The moment that Kahn had been waiting for. Not the promotion from his uncle, but the time to end his uncle's life and ripe away the mantle of being the leader of the Anahaus people. Kahn's destiny was in his own paws. Striking down his uncle now in front of these new soldiers would make a huge impression on them. Geng was right; they would look up to him as a leader.

But Geng would not shut up! His continuous rants began to drive Kahn insane. Outwardly, one he looked cold and firm. But inside, he was a ravenous animal, ready to rip off the head of his uncle and claim his rightful place. Geng's words were like needles to his brain being continually forced deeper and deeper. Finally, Kahn let out his rage.

"ENOUGH!" Kahn howled. Geng stood there, looking at Kahn with a look of shock and bewilderment on his face. He had never had anyone talk to him in a tone like that, not for a long time. This was definitely un expected, especially coming from his young nephew.

Kahn looked back at him, trying to figure out what to say, and how to even go about this. Now that he had his uncle's attention, he wasn't sure what to do with it.

"You insolent old fool!" Kahn said, stepping up in front of Geng. "You preach about the next step for out people. You preach about the 'evolution' of the Anahaus, but what you fail to realize is that you will not be the one to orchestrate our ascension." Geng stared at him, confused yet intrigued.

"What are you talking about nephew?" Geng asked, folding his massive arms across his muscular chest.

"You were right," Kahn answered. "I _am_ going to lead our people into the next phase of our history. But it will not be one of the generals in your army. It will be as the leader of MY army. I am ready to take these soldiers, and the rest of our species to new heights in the galaxy. Heights that you could have only imagined in your restless sleep uncle."

"You damn fool," Geng said, un folding his arms and taking a step into the personal space of Kahn. "You are going to bite the hand that has fed you for years? The hand that has raised you since you were a pup? Do you fully comprehend what it is you are trying to do?"

Kahn flashed his uncle a grin, "I am going to kill you Uncle."

Geng took a couple steps back and took off his cape and chest plate. The chest plate dented the floor when it thudded against the ground. He threw his pistol aside and walked over to one of the 20 Annihilators. He grabbed his wrist gauntlet and put it on his own wrist. Kahn mimicked his uncle's movements and began to pace back and forth, never letting his eyes off of his uncle.

"This is your last chance Kahn," Geng said, turning his back to his challenger. "Be prepared. I will not go easy on you."

Kahn offered up no reply. Instead, he ran towards his uncle, ready to strike him down. Before he reached him, Geng spun quickly and back handed Kahn with his free hand, sending Kahn to the side. Geng marched to where Kahn laid, but Kahn quickly rose to his feet and took up a defensive stance. Geng slashed down at Kahn's shoulder, only to have the attack blocked. A second attack came from the side, but once more Kahn was equal to it. Geng's left hand found its mark and gashed a cut across Kahn's face, causing the young challenger to take a step back. Forcing the matter, Geng began to slash wildly at Kahn, only to have all of his attacks parried to the side or dodged.

Kahn was frustrated. How could he have been taken by surprise like this? He was easily 20 standard years younger than his uncle, yet somehow he was being overran. Geng lashed out with his free paw once more, but this time Kahn was ready. After parrying the first slash, Kahn brought his blade in and slashed at Geng's exposed forearm. Flesh, fur, tendon and muscle were easily carved through. It wasn't deep however, just enough to try and give Kahn a little momentum.

Geng let out a howl and staggered back, allowing Kahn to head butt him in the chest. Geng stumbled back. He was on the defensive now. Kahn came down with a heavy slash of his blade, only to have Geng block it quickly. The pain was throbbing in his left arm from the wound Kahn had inflicted. He could see the blood dripping onto the ground and staining his fur. Kahn went for another overhead attack, but Geng stepped aside and punched Kahn in the abdomen. For a moment, the two stood there and Geng was shocked. His nephew had completely absorbed the blow to his gut.

This momentary hesitation allowed Kahn to elbow Geng in the side of the head, sending him rolling to the side. Geng laid on his back and watched as Kahn came down with repeated strikes of his gauntlet. Each strike was blocked and sent to the side. Geng knew his nephew would be exerting a lot of energy, trying to end the battle now. He was content to lay there and let Kahn continue his needless assault.

When Kahn raised back up, Geng quickly rose to his feet. Kahn slashed down and cut nothing but the open space where his uncle once laid. Geng brought a knee up and drove it into the jaw and chin of his cousin. Another strike from Geng's left hand sent Kahn stumbling back further. He didn't press the advantage though, giving Kahn time to assess what had happened.

"If you concede now, I will forgive you of this transgression and act as if this never happened," Geng said. "You and I will go back to reigning over our people, in two different yet important ways."

Kahn spit out a tooth and some blood, letting his rage build up inside of him. He was being mocked by his uncle for his failure to defeat him in the opening stage of their battle. "You will die uncle." Kahn said, wiping blood from his face. "I can assure you of that." Geng growled and this time he charged his nephew. The two met and clenched paws, testing the strength of each other.

They pressed their muscular chests against each other, neither one wanting to give an inch. The two monsters grunted and groaned as they searched for the advantage that could possibly help them win this battle. Kahn began to feel his uncle slip a little bit. Geng took a step back, and Kahn stepped forward. He growled, allowing himself to use his rage, anger, and hatred of his uncle to help force him backwards. Keeping the momentum going his way, Kahn began to squeeze tighter on Geng's hands. He felt the flesh begin to open up and bleed onto his own hands. Kahn looked into his uncle's eyes and squeezed tighter, drawing more blood and forcing more pressure on the hands of Geng.

Geng's hands were beginning to give way, slowly. Kahn put more pressure on them, feeling the bones in the hands of his uncle start to crack. A look of horror came over Geng's face when he heard the sudden _crack_ of his own hands! A sharp pain ran up through his arms, causing him to throw his head back and let out a howl. The pain coursed up through his arms as his bones snapped in many places. Desperation began to surface on the face of Geng, as he quickly pondered how we could turn this fight around.

Geng lunged his face forward and bit down hard on the muscular shoulder of Kahn. His sharp teeth dug deep into the flesh and meat of Kahn, allowing Geng to taste his nephew's blood. It was Kahn's turn to shout and howl out from the pain. It wasn't much, but it did enough to throw Kahn off from his target momentarily.

In that moment, the look on Kahn's face turned. The pain gave him the motivation and desire to exert more energy and finally kill his uncle. Kahn squeezed his uncle's hands tighter and twisted his hands forward, snapping the wrists of Geng. One of the wrists bones of Geng cut through his flesh and poked out. Geng released his mouth from Kahn's shoulder and once more howled in pain, this time a more horrific howl. He knew his defeat could be imminent but he would not give up just quite yet. But the pain was near unbearable, and he wondered just how much longer he would be able to hold out.

Kahn, sensing the end was near decided that now he was going to make his uncle suffer and not quite end this battle yet. Kahn, still holding Geng's paws, stepped back and stomped down on the leg of his opponent, bending it an unnatural angle and snapping the bones in two. Geng dropped to the ground and his mangles hands went to his leg. Blood now seeped from various wound on Geng's body, but the most grotesque was the sight of his broken leg. He had been defeated, now he was hoping that Kahn would kill him quickly and end all of this misery. End all of his pain and suffering.

"I am the evolution of our species uncle," Kahn said. He grinned and walked around Geng's body, surveying the damage that he had caused him. "I am now the pinnacle of perfection amongst the Anahaus people. You have worked you're whole life to try and rebuild our people but what you failed to realize is that you have been the architect of your own demise. I will lead the Annihilators and our people on to heights that you could have only imagined in your dreams. Yes, we will rise to prominence in the galaxy, just not with you as a leader."

Geng looked up at him, trying to mask his discomfort and pain. "You will never be the leader I was young Kahn. You're desire and ambition will blind you. You will fail as their leader." Kahn walked to Geng's hands and stomped on the already mangled and disfigured forearm of Geng. Another bone snapped under the pressure from Kahn's boot.

"You are wrong you old fool," Kahn retorted. "I am the leader they need. Young, brash, and competent. I have strength, skill, and the knowledge that you have taught me over the years. You have consequently, been raising your replacement since you bred me all those years ago. Now it is fitting that I destroy you and continue what you started and save our people."

Kahn readied his wrist blade and stood above Geng. This was the moment that he had been waiting for. He knew that he had been bred for great success and for a purpose. It was unclear for years what that had been, but Darv and Midor had helped make it clear to him. He was to rise and lead his people.

His whole life quickly flashed before him, and all of his experience and monumental moments in his life replayed in his mind. He smiled. _This is what its like to have true power_. He thought to himself, as the blade came down and ended the life of Geng.

-Sorry for the lack of updates here lately. I had to get a new computer when I returned from my training in the Army. I hope to be able to finish this though. As always, please review and constructive criticism is accepted. You can always PM if you have questions-


End file.
